


Assassin's Creed Parahumans

by XeroKey



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2020-09-28 15:40:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20428343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XeroKey/pseuds/XeroKey
Summary: Nothing is true, Everything is Permitted... especially among Capes.





	1. Sequence 1.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing is true, Everything is Permitted... especially among Capes.

Lisa Wilbourne, as she had finally begun to think of herself as, had been feeling antsy since the bank robbery, even though it had been a few days. She was certain that Coil had kidnapped the Mayor’s niece during it, which though it did bother her conscience a little it wasn’t something she could actually fix. Coil had her under the gun, so she just put it out of her mind and went about her normal life. No, what hd her on edge was the feeling of being watched, and not in the ‘the boss has a spy’ sense, but the ‘I’m pretty sure someone has been following me’ sense.

_All clear_

But her dumbass power was certain nothing was there! So either there was a Stranger tailing her or her conscience was louder than she thought. She decided to get some air out of costume and just listen to the sounds of the city on the rooftops. Then a knife was pushed on her throat from behind. “I’m going to ask questions, and you are going to answer them.” Dumbass power!

“Look, buddy, I don’t know if you know, but threatening someone’s life isn’t going to get you answers.” Lisa said as smugly as she could, a little worried that her facade wouldn’t work.

“I never said I would kill you.” Her captor answered. Her facade did not work. “The knife was just insurance.” The knife whistled past Lisa’s hair and ear, before a click signified it was back in its container. “Turn around.”

Lisa did so, slowly, and got a good look at her kidnapper. _Tall, dark concealing clothing, mask to hide gender of voice, hood to hide shape of face, soft steps, hand primed to pull knife, not fully inserted despite sound, silent drawing skill, dangerous. _Thanks power, I couldn’t tell, Lisa thought with a mental roll of her eyes. “Okay, what do you want to know? I admit to being curious.”

“You robbed Brockton Bay Central Bank as a distraction for the abduction of Dinah Alcott.” Her captor said matter of factly.

Lisa sighed. “Since you so easily caught me, I’ll admit it. The Undersiders, my team, _did_ rob Brockton Central. But we didn’t know about Dinah until after! Heck, the rest don’t even know what happened!”

Her captor shifted slightly, only the light hitting their hood indicating they had slightly looked away in their motion. “But you do know who did it.”

“Yes.”

“Who.” The voice tried to be stoic but a gravely tension was quickly entering it. _Angry, feels responsible, could have done something? wanted to do something? put things together, paranoid about how easy it was, was at the bank._

“Coil, he’s a supervillain. He’s got Tinkertech equipped mercs and I’m pretty sure he owns the Enforcers off the Boardwalk.” Her captor turned again, this time like they were ready to leave. _Going after Coil, wants Coil dead, suicidal. _Shit! “Don’t even try going after him! He’s got some sort of power, it lets him pick whatever outcome he wants! You can’t get close to him!”

The captor didn’t turn to acknowledge Lisa, only stepped to the edge of the roof. “Then I’ll make him come to me.” They growled out, spreading the arms and diving off the roof.

“NO!” Lisa ran to the edge and looked down... but they were gone. “What?” _Garbage bags at bottom, fall broken, practiced dive many times, expert at avoiding damage when falling._ “How in the world could they have known that would work?”

**+++**

Taylor Hebert was angry. Not an uncommon occurrence, she had her father’s temper, but this time she wasn’t angry at school being full of gangs or the general state of her home town. She was angry at herself. Logically she knew that there was no way she could have prevented Dinah Alcott’s kidnapping, she was on the other side of town being held at gunpoint. But guilt doesn’t play by the rules of logic. It had been the day after when she saw the news and the expected time of death for Dinah’s parents that she put it together. The bank was a distraction. All the people who could have been killed were a _distraction_. Tattletale’s info cleared things up, gave her a target to go after. She may not be able to save Dinah, but she can do her best to avenge her.

Taylor slid into her house through the basement, slipping through the vent window and thankful for being thin enough to do so. She didn’t need to wake her father up. “And what time do you call this?” Especially if he was already up.

Taylor pulled off her hood and ski mask, glaring at her father. “Hell of a time to actually start paying attention to me.” She spat out. Her father didn’t even flinch.

“I’m sorry if that’s how you feel but I have never _not _paid attention to you.” Danny pulled out a book from behind him, a spiral bound notebook that Taylor found familiar, and placed it on the workbench in the basement. “I’ve known what’s been going on the whole time but I was waiting for you to come to me about it.” Danny shook his head in shame. “Instead you have been sneaking out at all hours of the night. Am I going to find you on the news covered in blood or lying in a bed of needles!”

“What? No! This isn’t like that! ”

“Then what _is _it like Taylor!? Did you join a gang!? Get conscripted!? High?!”

“I’M TRYING TO FIND THE BASTARD WHO KIDNAPPED DINAH ALCOTT!”

Danny actually stepped back at the force of her yell. “Who?”

Taylor sighed and leaned against the basement wall. “The bank robbery, the one I got caught in? She was kidnapped at the same time.”

“What does that-“

“You don't find it weird the Protectorate was out of the area with only the Wards left, who pretty much _all _responded to the bank robbery, at the exact moment a high profile child is abducted?”

Danny raised a finger to answer, then rubbed his chin. “Okay, I can see why you would be concerned, but why are you doing... THIS?” He indicated the window.

“Because I can. I can track a deer for days, know how to defend myself. I can stay to the rooftops as easily as a forest canopy.” Taylor shook her head and slid down to the floor. “Everything fits together too well for me to trust anyone else.”

Danny looked off to the side and growled. “Dammit Annette.”

“Dad?”

“Your mother signed you up for that camp, not me.”

Taylor raised herself up. “What are you talking about?”

Danny took a deep breath in through his nose and back out, looking to the heavens for guidance. “Wait here, I need to get something from the attic.” Danny turned and walked up the stairs, Taylor could hear him fumbling about as the wood creaked when he reached the small alcove of an attic. He came down not long after carrying a large garment box.

“Mom’s wedding dress?” Taylor asked as her father set it down on the workbench.

“No. Your mother’s actual wedding dress burned down with your grandparent’s house. This was from before that, when she worked for Lustrum.” Danny opened up the case and pulled out a white garment that laid across the open case, aesthetically as if a wedding dress was designed for a SWAT team. “Your mother was almost one of the _Brides of Lustrum_, and had this specially made. But before she could debut, she found out about the castration and left.”

Taylor reached a hand out to touch the outfit, feeling the fabric beneath her fingers. “But what does that have to do with anything?”

“Your mother had, by that point, arranged for a camp her family ran to accept her group. She had intended to train Lustrum’s followers in case things got ugly. We sent you there because your mother still wanted you to be safe.”

Taylor hesitantly nodded. “This is Brockton Bay.” Her father gave a non-committal grunt. “So why are you showing me this?”

Danny laid a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Because you are so much like your mother that I know I can’t stop you, and so much like me that you will fight me if I tried.” His other hand followed to her other shoulder, the man pulling his daughter to look him in the eye. “If you are going to do this, I want you to be safe.” Danny gave Taylor a hug and walked back upstairs.

Taylor watched her father leave, before turning to the garment. She pulled it out fully and held it up to herself, then at the mirror in the basement bathroom door. She steeled herself and removed her hoodie, putting on the dress. She noticed through several false starts that the various frills could be quickly adjusted to make a passable copy of Glory Girl’s costume and various other dresses. But when she had fully figured out how to out it on so it looked like it did in the box, she felt a strange sense of calm. Even with the jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt, the garment looked like it had a power to it. Taylor looked in the mirror and admired herself, noticing that she looked more confident in the garment than anything else she had ever worn.

“What is this for though?” There was fabric bunched around her neck and she pulled at it to clear some neck room, pulling away a hood. The hood flopped down between her shoulder blades before she could stop it, her hands slowly raising it till it covered her head. The hood was peaked, the opening looked as if someone had left half of a heart as a window. “Still,” Taylor admitted. “It looks good.” She ran her fingers along the arms, feeling the stitch work that acted like feathers, then admired the owl on the mid back with its open wings. She nodded to herself, removing the garment and placing it back in the box. As she headed upstairs she thought she something out of the corner of her eye, a piece of the basement wall squared off with lines, but when she blinked it was completely normal. Taylor shook her head and went upstairs, ready for a night’s sleep before she set her plan to kill Coil in motion.

**+++**

** Taylor Hebert **

Winslow High School was not the pinnacle of educational standards that one would hope for. It couldn’t even be called the bottom rung on the ladder of educational excellence. Unfortunately it was where I went to school, and it literally gives me bad vibes every day. Every second I feel as though I’m surrounded by a sea of enemies. As I settle things into my locker, two very familiar presences come to my awareness. Emma Barnes, my sister without blood; and Sophia Hess, practically the embodiment of a gangsta thug. I tried to put them out of my mind when I’m forced to be at school, focus on getting through the day and planning how to go after Coil... but _man_ do they make it difficult.

“Yo, Hebert!” Sophia practically slammed her palm to the lockers next to mine, leaning against them as cocky as usual.

I slam my locker shut and turn to face the two.“Sophia, Emma.” I see Sophia’s fist clench as her smirk grows, my own fist responding. I get mine up first and rap our knuckles together in a gentle punch, something we’ve done since we first met. “How are you two?”

“Great as ever!” Emma said perkily, which is basically normal for her. She took to high school like a fire to oil, while I kept my grades I couldn’t maintain the social butterfly status my sister without-blood could

“Good, good. Listen, I can’t make it this weekend, I have... plans.” I tried to be diplomatically as possible. Sophia would have my back for pretty much any crime I committed, but I really don’t need to drag a Ward into being an Accessory to Murder.

“Plans huh?” Damn Emms and her knowing smirk! “Would that be because of something you’ve _seen_?” The way Emma stressed that last word means she knows I’m following my ‘talent’. Sophia calls it a Thinker power, a 2 or 3 on the PRT threat scale. She’s kept it quiet for now but as soon as i make a scene, she’s going to be buried in paperwork.

“Yes. Sort of, look it’s complicated.” I said which appeased Sophia, she at least understands privacy. Emma looked like she was going to say something but I held up my hand. The school was tense, like a tightly wound spring. “Sophia, have you had any problems recently?”

Sophia scoffed. “I don’t have problems Hebert, I stop them.”

My eyes narrowed, not focusing on my friends but everyone else. The gangs were moving, Merchants staying low while the ABB and Emps were gathering. “There’s going to be a fight, possibly a damn riot!”

“Shit!” Emma took out her phone and started texting her cliques to get to safety, Sophia texting in to the PRT.

“Piggy is going to ask questions about how I saw this coming.”

“Just tell her you saw the gangs congregating and shooting looks.” I started following the tension down the hall, dropping my bag into Emma’s arms as she moved to safety. “How much trouble will you get in for this?”

Sophia smirked and cracked her knuckles. “No mask, no problem. As long as I’m stopping it, I’m in the green.” I smirked myself as I pushed open the doors to the school parking lot. I was right, the ABB and E88 were gearing up for a showdown.

“Some of them are armed, so try not to break your cover.” I ordered while cracking my neck. Sophia just scoffed and readied herself. We weren’t going to go first, it would be better for Sophia if the gangs did. One of the ABB picked up a brick and threw it, and that was our signal!

Sophia and jumped into the fray as soon as the two sides charged, taking two out each in the first impact. We kept each other’s back as the fists went flying, having to disarm a few guns before a shot could get off. Sophia had better skills in that area because of her training, but my family’s camp treated self-defense as a key focus.

Once only Sophia and I were standing above broken piles of gangbangers, we rapped bloody knuckles together. And it was that moment that the police showed up, and Sophia and I ended up in the back of a squad car. It took about thirty minutes for Uncle Alan to show up and get us uncuffed, Sophia’s social worker making sure the proper tapes from the school were taken to evidence. Basically making sure Sophia wasn’t going to be collared like a barking dog and sent off to juvie for violating her parole. We toed the line, _at best_. Of course we were still suspended, so I picked my stuff up from Emma and headed home. Flipping up my hoodie as the New England fog rolled in, I figured it would be faster to take the roof tops. At worst people will think I’m a gangbanger in a rush, at best some rookie cape.

It’s amazing how much you can get away with when people think ‘Parahuman’ before ‘Crazy Person’.

I drop off the roof of my house and into the back yard, dad’s car already gone from the driveway so I knew I had some time to myself. I made my way downstairs and opened up mom’s outfit. I figured I’d get a start on tracking down Coil’s men today if I wasn’t going to be at school. I put it on and was about to step outside when I saw that glow from before. It was a small square, about the size of a public locker, seeming to just hang in the air. It was like smoke was painted on to the wall. I saw a handprint and laid my own hand on it, pressing forward as I rolled down a light streak in a counterclockwise half-circle.

There was a click and the piece moved into the rest of the wall, and my hand practically jumped off it like it was burned. “The hell!?” The glow seemed to have vanished but there was still an unexplained recess in my basement wall. Gently I pressed against the door again, sliding it to my left. Inside the locker was a wrist brace and a picture of mom and my grandparents. Mom was dressed in the gown, and she seemed to be angry with her parents. “Why was this taken?” I picked up the photo and looked at the back. In mom’s handwriting was _They Were Right_.

I shook my head and tried on the brace. I was fiddling with it to make it fit when “Ow!” A blade popped out and nicked my finger. The blade retracted just as quickly and I got the wound cleaned and dressed. “Why the hell does mom have a knife for her wrist?” I twisted my wrist again, keeping my fingers clear, when the blade popped out again. I gently ran my other hand’s fingers along it, feeling the cool touch of plastic. “Super sharp plastic blade that triggers when mom flicks her wrist... My mom was a killer.” My eyes went wide and I went to hastily remove the brace but before I could even undo a latch, a thought came to me. I knew I wasn’t going to avoid killing anyone but Coil. This... thing might be just what I needed. I fit the bracer on to my arm and left the house, climbing back on to the roof and hopping across the neighborhood.

I climbed my way to the roof of a four story building, then up on to the top of a radio spire that sat on it. I looked out on the city, straight towards the boardwalk. Tattletale seemed sure that Coil owns the Enforcers, so that's the best place to start. I close my eyes and pull my hood over my head. I can _see_ something that will break my fall with little to no injury, so I take a deep breath in and stretch may arms as if they were wings.

_'Remember Taylor.'_ My mother’s voice echoed from the last time we ever talked like parent and child. _'Any journey must start...'_

I pushed myself off the tower, the wind whistling in my ears as the pigeons and birds that had rested there took flight around me. For the briefest moment I was another bird among them, my mother's Little Owl all over again. And then I dove down to the ground.

_'...with a Leap of Faith.'_


	2. Sequence 1.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hide in Plain Sight. The shadows are allies, but not the only ones.

Despite knowing where to start searching, I didn’t know _how_ to start searching. The Enforcers were officially a neighborhood watch group, in reality they are an armed militia, and when you really think about it they were just another gang but with a better public face. The Enforcers control the Boardwalk down to the last nail in the last plank of wood. It’s an open secret The Enforcers ran a protection racket, why else would the prices in the shops be so high?

Still, I had absolutely no idea how to track down Coil from these guys. I sat on a roof across from the fairground, just behind a chimney, and watched a small squad of Enforcers patrol between the attractions. They were casual as they moved, like they didn’t have anything important to do. One of them clapped another’s shoulder and broke off, moving away from the restrooms too. I narrowed my eyes and dropped down, weaving between the crowds as I followed him. He ducked into an alley pretty fast and I followed at a sprint.

That was a mistake. A metal pole clanged on my skull from behind, dropping me like a sack of potatoes. The mugger rolled me over so I could see the Enforcer’s uniform, then sent a straight into my face so hard I swear it started to swell before it even hit. His assault didn’t stop. It was just PAIN. I lost consciousness sometime in between the kidney punches and the curb stomps.

I was so stupid...

My head was ringing the bells of Notre Dame. I don’t know if the guy clocked me on the back of my head just got bored or decided that tap dance practice on my spine was reason enough to think I was dead. I gently rolled myself over and staggered to my feet, my target so far gone I couldn’t even sense his presence.

I hobbled out of the alley on to the Boardwalk’s city portion, practically collapsing on to a fire hydrant. “Holy shit! Come here girl, we’ll get you some help. June, Dana, help me with her!” I felt six hands grab me, two by each arm and one by my chest. Out of my one functioning eye I could see heavy mascara and lip stick on the girls. And a lot of skin past their hair.

I just got saved by whores. That is ironic.

They gently shoved me into the back seat of the car, we drove a few minutes, then they carried me somewhere. I think it was an elevator but by that point I was completely gone. I came to some time later, one eye covered by an ice pack with a few more tied down on my body. I was in a motel room, a decent one but I knew it was one of those By-the-Hour places. My heroes were hookers after all

“You’re awake.” I turned my head to the left and saw a women walk in, carrying a Walgreens bag. “Good, I wasn’t sure if you were going to make the night.”

“W-where?”

The woman smiled gently, taking out pain killers and a bottle of water from the bag. “Wave Crest, just off the old fair grounds.” I knew the place, and gratefully opened my mouth to let her put the pills. “You know, most girls your age would have thought I was trying to hook you on something instead of opening up.”

“Unless you have a lamination machine, I doubt you can fake ibuprofen like that.” I tried to smirk but my cheek wouldn’t move all the way with my black eye.

“So...” my savior started. “I’m Clara, my friends call me Destiny. Can I ask what you were doing out there in... that? You a cape?” She nodded her head across the room where I felt my clothes lay draped across a chair.

“Sure, I’m a cape.” I wasn’t going to get in the argument I have with Sophia here. “I was trying to get some information out of a guy and got jumped.”

Clara barked out a laugh. “No kidding! In that get up you may as well have been the 5-0 running lights. What are looking for anyway?”

“The Enforcers work for someone, someone who I’m sure kidnapped Dinah Alcott.” Clara raised an eyebrow, I think. “The mayor’s niece.” Now I was certain both brows were raised.

“Shit, I heard about that. Right out of her own home. And you think the Enforcers were part of it?”

“If not directly, then their boss.”

Clara tapped a long nail against her chin. “Listen, once you’re healed up I think I can help you.” I tried to raise an eyebrow myself, but Clara accepted my blank look as permission to continue. “The Enforcers love us here, and little men trying to be big love to pillow talk. I’ll ask the girls what they’ve heard _if _you do something for us.”

“And that would be?”

“Kill our pimp.”

“WHAT!?” I practically jumped out of the bed, injuries be damned. I didn’t make it far before Clara pushed me back down.

“Listen, the bastard has been taking pretty much all of our money. Your meds? My food budget for a week.” I stared at her with my eyes as wide as they could go. “Yeah, so you owe me! Take out Devion and I’ll check with the girls about the Enforcer’s bosses. Deal?”

Her manicured hand held out towards me, and I stared at it. None of my instincts telling me she was a danger. I took her hand in mine with a firm shake. “Deal.”

**+++**

Devion worked out of a rundown apartment building nearing Merchant territory. The paint was starting to peel, meaning it only just started to get rundown. I winced and held my chest, my ribs coming back in force. I took deep breaths and went to my happy place, a field of dandelions surrounded by rolling clouds on a hill top. The place mom always took me when we first got to camp and the day she picked me up. Thinking about that place calmed me down, let me breathe away all the pain from my body and mind.

Once my breathing ceased being shallow, I looked on the building again. There was someone walking past the windows on to the fire escape armed with an assault rifle. He rested the rifle against the railing and lit up some sort of drug, meaning this was my time to strike. I moved as swiftly as my body allowed and scaled the brickwork next to the escape, releasing my blade and stabbing into his knee when he took a deep drag, then his throat right before he hit his head on the railing. I slid over the railing and onto the landing, laying the body down into the corner.

I saw a trail by another thug, so I leaned up agains the entrance and whistled just as she passed, stabbing into her throat and dragging her on top of the first guy. I looked again and saw the trail was gone, so I moved into the hall. I felt more around, five total, but I couldn’t risk taking them out. Devion was in a floor up and at the end of the hall. I had _maybe_ two minutes before one of these druggies wanted some fresh air and saw the bodies, so I had to move.

I followed a trail up and ducked behind a corner, then moved forward and jiggled the knob. Locked and I didn’t have time to search for a key. I check around me and knelt down, releasing my blade and moving it into the keyhole. I really wish I had paid more attention during locksmithing at camp, but I got it free eventually. I gently opened the door and saw Devion... naked. Ew. I snuck in and shut the door behind me and gently stepped next to the, well I hesitate to call it a bed but it was where he was sleeping.

I... I had never taken a human life. Animals sure, but never a person before today. The thugs were armed, it could be proactive self-defense. But this... I went back to my happy place, extended my blade, and stabbed down into Devion’s chest.

** _“Aah!” Devion screamed, the dandelions disturbed by his flailing. “What the hell you crazy bitch?!”_ **

** _“You’ve been stealing from the girls under your protection. They asked me to deal with you.” I pulled my blade out quickly, scattering the blood upon the weeds._ **

** _Devion took shallow breaths through his nose as he tried to hold back another scream. “De’re whores you bitch! I decide what they keep! They should be lucky I aint sharing my stash!”_ **

** _“A thief with ethics. You need them clean so they make you more money to get your fix.” I knelt down as the wind picked up, sending red dandelions flying. “And if they die because they can’t feed themselves, what do you do?” Devion glared at me as he tried to swallow saliva, but his eyes were already rolling back in his head. “That’s what I thought. You can’t think that far ahead.” Devion’s head hit the ground, sending the weeds into the sky as the sun set, turning the clouds red as blood._ **

I pulled out my blade just as a thug burst through the door. I was moving before they leveled their weapon, jumping out the open window and on to the rooftops. I dived down between the buildings and hid in a fortunately empty dumpster. I waited ten minutes before I tried to climb out.

I barfed onto the alley ground first, just like when I first killed a rabbit.


	3. Sequence 1.3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One cannot act on their own.

I dropped down on to the balcony of Clara's room in the Wave Crest and knocked on the glass door. She pulled back the blinds and opened the door to let me in. "Devion's dead. Do you have anything for me?"

Clara looked at me like I had turned purple and grown two extra heads. "It's... only been a few hours. There's no way we could have gotten dirt yet." I tried to glare but my body started to give out from exhaustion. "Shit! Did you seriously not see even an Urgent before going out to kill my old pimp?"

"Urgh. Didn't think I had time." Clara hobbled me out the door and into her car. "Where are we going?"

"Grissom, he's an old mob doc that's been helping the girls since the Marche were shut down." She pulled her car into a driveway a few blocks from the motel. She helped me out of the car and knocked on the backdoor in Shave-And-A-Haircut, then an older black man opened it. "Grissom, got a patient for ya."

Grissom nonchalantly raised an eyebrow. "So I see. Come on in, I just put on some coffee." Clara helped me inside and through the kitchen and laid me on the couch. "I don't have much for you but I can see what I can do. Clara, help remove the costume." My corset and robes were pulled off and the body and so was my underclothes top. I weakly tried to move my arm to cover myself but Grissom held me arm down as he put on a stethoscope. "Girl, I'm a doctor. You don't have anything I haven't seen a thousand times." I calmed down as he took my vitals then probed for pain spots along my body. "There we go, looks like bruised ribs. You got lucky." He said as he pulled off his stethoscope.

"So what's my prescription?" I cockily asked.

"Judging by the costume, I'd suggest bed rest and therapy." I glared at him. "That's what I thought. Try not to overdose on over-counter stuff, anything serious I'd suggest a few clinics around town." He handed me a bottle of generic pain pills and slip of paper. "They work anonymously. Come in with a domino mask and not even Panacea if she's working there can legally say they helped you."

I took a deep breath and pulled myself off the couch. "Thanks for the advice, now I need to get going."

"Not like that you aren't." Clara said while grabbing my arm. "One, my girls don't have anything for you. Two, you try following a guy like that again and you're getting killed."

I pulled up my hood and glared at Clara from beneath it. "And what would you suggest I do instead?"

Clara smiled. "Meet me at the motel tomorrow at sunset, I've got an idea."

**+++**

"I cannot believe I'm doing this." I said, adjusting my frills into a more dress-like form. I was with Clara's girls in the parking lot of the Wave Crest, about to join them on a... walk.

"I'm not expecting you to do what we do, just _walk_ like you do. Watch." Clara strutted, actually strutted so her faux-fur coat bounced behind her and prowled around her fellows. Then they all started moving around the parking lot and if it wasn't for my talent I would have lost track of Clar... no, Destiny right now. Or so I thought.

There was a tap on my shoulder and I jumped as Destiny was standing right behind me. "How the hell!?"

"It's all about _not_ wanting to be seen until you need to be." She gestured to the other hookers. "Now you try." I took a deep breath in and swayed my hips as I joined them. "Nope, I still see the amateur."

I threw my hands up in the air. "And how am I not supposed to be one?"

"You ever played a game of hide and seek while moving?"

"No."

"Then think of it like that." That advice was horrible. Fine, 'hide and seek while moving', let's try it! I thought about the leaves and hay at camp, tried to picture the girls just like that. I moved through them to Destiny and tapped her on her shoulder when she wasn't facing my way. She jumped in surprise. "Wow! That was excellent!"

"Des, Des!" One of the other girls closed her phone. "We got a hit on those guys you were looking for. One'll be on the main strip tonight, he just finished bragging about a big pay day." Destiny smiled at me and I flipped up my hood, heading towards the roof tops. I worked my way to the boardwalk and then down on to the planks, pulling my hood off and stuffing it into my neck frill, covering both shoulders now.I hiked up around the skirt and shifted the corset, then walked out into the light. I wandered slightly until I saw them, then put down a quarter to play the fair game when one of them looked my way. I missed intentionally and acted like I was fumbling though my pockets till they walked away, then I followed.

I had to duck behind a wall a couple of times, but I didn't lose them. One of them broke off and I stayed following him. Ge passed out of the lighted areas of the boardwalks and started heading towards the old ferry depot. There weren't any crowds here so I had to get to the trees and rooftops. It was then I had a different problem, Dauntless of the Protectorate was flying around the area. I pulled up my hood and ducked behind the ac units while avoiding his sight, then kept following my target.

"Damn it!" I cursed. He'd gotten away... or maybe not. I knelt down and found some glue stuck on water fountain. It was a straight line but there was a bit of paper stuck to some of it. I looked around and found a shoe imprint in the dirt. I followed and saw there was a trail of dirt leading away from the fountain. I followed it into a public men's restroom without a mirror and knocked on the one stall.

"Huh? Hold on a sec." He finished up and I ducked out of the way in front of the urinal. "That Chalupa Palace, I tell ya. Sorry about that." He turned around and saw me. "What, was the ladies broken again? I'll file the report once I get off..." I extended my blade. "The hell!?" He reached for his gun as I dove for his throat.

** _I held his head in my hands as I laid him in the dandelions, blade against his throat. "Wh-why?"_ **

** _"It's nothing personal, you just happen to work for someone I need to kill."_ **

_ **"And that makes ** _ **me** _ ** okay to kill?"** _

_ **I didn't answer him. "Where is Coil?"** _

_ **"How the hell did you know?" I pulled out his envelope from his pocket and hefted the money inside.** _

** _"I have sources."_ **

** _"I don't talk to him directly, just dead drops. My boss talks to him, he works towards downtown.. Please, just let me go!" I raised my blade off his throat but didn't retract it._ **

** _"I'm sorry..." I raised my arm again and angled it downwards._ **

** _"Just watch yourself kid, this is a dangerous road you're walking." I stabbed down and the dandelions blew away coated in crimson._ **

I put his payment in my pockets and left the bathroom. I headed down the sidewalk and on to the street, when I heard a scream and saw Dauntless land near the restroom. I stayed among the crowds as I left the area, heading back to the Wave Crest.

**+++**

"Downtown isn't going to be easy. Emps pretty much run everything from Lord to Arcadia and we don't have any girls around there." Clara scratched her head as I got off the phone with dad. "Maybe a few would be willing to talk, but we'd have to get them away from their pimps first."

"I'd rather not get involved with the Empire unless I have no choice."

"Might not have a choice," Clara turned on the tv. "Any Enforcer working in Emp territory is one their take just as much as Coil's."

"Yeah..." I released a breath I felt like I'd been holding for a week. "How are the girls doing?"

"Well, I admit I'm a far better pimp than Devion ever was. I've actually been thinking of pooling a bit and buying the warehouse nearby, make it into a club."

"Strip?"

"Maybe in the back. Upfront would be normal dancing and bar." I took out the Enforcer's dead drop payment and tossed it to her. "What's this? ...holy shit, this is like ten thousand!"

I shrugged. "Consider it an investment. I'd probably sleep better knowing you girls aren't always on the streets."

"Well, then I'm going to be saving a cut for you."

"Please don't."

Clara waved me off and laid down on her bed. "Nope! You are trying to help a little girl, you need the money."

I rolled my eyes and left the motel. A few days later I saw the warehouse was already under repair and transformation into a night club. "'_The Parliment'_?" I opened the front doors and found Clara in a sexy secretary outfit coordinating a bar. Fake walls had already been put up to look like wood paneling and the bar looked like it was made of brick with an owl's open wings shelving the alcohol. "Um... this was fast."

Clara turned and pulled me into a one armed hug. "With Devion not stealing and your down payment, we were able to scrape enough to at least get the concept together. Not everything is the best quality, but we think a soft open in a week should be fine."

I threw off her arm and rubbed my neck. "And the name?"

"You actually." Clara sat on the bar and crossed her legs sensually. "You kind of remind me of Hedwig in the Harry Potter books, so I looked up things about owls after we first met."

I rubbed my forehead. "Right. Anyway, I think I have a lead."

Clara had been reaching behind the bar and pouring a soda. "Oh?"

"I think it's about time I talk to Tattletale again."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seek them out, and Brothers and Sisters will come to your aid.

Tattletale. Undersider. Various sources across the internet say the group is known for small hit-and-run crimes, the bank robbery being the only deviation from their modus operandi. They are infamous for their ability to escape from their pursuers, making the fact they haven’t moved their base despite the fact I’d confronted Tattletale practically on their own roof even more baffling.

I lowered my binoculars and considered my options. Staking out the base from the roof across gets more and more risky every day. Dad can only cover for me at school for so long without coming up with an excuse for just pulling me out. Not to mention that speculation places one of the Undersiders as a Thinker, Tattletale being the most likely suspect. The longer I remain means more chances for her to figure out I’m watching her if she hasn’t already. As I’m thinking about things, I hear the garage door on the base open and I pull my binoculars out. A blonde girl steps out and looks around, eventually looking up to the roof I was using.

Great, she had noticed me sometime. I didn’t bother hiding, just relaxed on the roof for Tattletale to arrive. “Sorry for bothering you during your no doubt busy week of planning heists.” I joked, but my tone was flat and my wrist was ready to extend my blade.

“Honestly,” Tattletale shrugged. “I thought you would have been killed before you got back to me. How can I help you?”

“You’re being rather accommodating to someone wanting to kill your boss.”

“I’m a villain but he’s crazy.” Tattletale shook her head. “I was just doing some petty crimes till I could set myself up for White Collar. Then Coil got a hold of me and literally held a gun to my head.” She looked at where my eyes would be visible if my hood was down. “I looked into some things after we first met, a morbid curiosity, and I found out some things.” I nodded my head to indicate she continue. “Before she was kidnapped, Dinah had been complaining about headaches and odds.”

“Odds?”

“Percentages, chances of things happening.” Tattletale let out a deep breath. “I’m a Thinker, it means I get headaches when I overuse my powers. I think Dinah may be the same.”

I stood up and started pacing the roof, putting everything together. Anyone would want someone on their side who could tell them the chances of a plan succeeding or failing. “And you?” I asked as I continued to pace. “What’s your power?”

Tattletale shyly smiled. “Normally I’d say I can read minds but you don’t seem to be in the mood for jokes. I’m basically Sherlock Holmes, I put things together from the tiniest details.” Something that added on to Dinah’s possible power would be invaluable. I stopped pacing and looked at Tattletale, looking beyond her form with my talent. “What... wh-at are you about to do? Hey! Hey!”

I grabbed on to Tattletale’s clothes and pulled her to me.

_ **She looked around the field of dandelions and clouds, taking in everything. “This place… where are we? How did we get here?” She stared into my eyes wide. “What kind of power do you have!?”** _

_ **“This isn’t a power, it’s a confession. Tell me where I can find Coil.” I let go with my left hand and extended my blade. “Now.”** _

_ **Tattletale stared at the blade with absolute fear. “I… I don’t know! I don’t think I’ve been to his real base, heck I don’t think I’ve ever met him myself!”** _

_ **“Then how do I find him? Tracking down his agents will take too long, and the longer I wait the worse of Dinah becomes.”** _

_ **“I can help!” She raised her hands to stop me from considering stabbing her. “I can figure out where his agents are. Once you take them out, Coil will circle the wagons and make an opening as they close in.”** _

_ **I glared at Tattletale then pushed her down on to the dandelions, scattering them. “I’m putting a lot of trust in a criminal like you.”** _

_ **Tattletale rubbed her back as she stood up. “And this coming from the serial killer?” I looked at her in confusion. “The police are already looking for a killer with a knife, ‘the Brockton Ripper’ in chatter. You think that you can look down on me for armed robbery? I don’t have blood on my hands”** _

I walked to the edge of the roof and collected my things, ignoring Tattletale outwardly. But inwardly what she said was running through my mind. I was a killer and I wasn’t going to stop killing, probably not even after I killed Coil. I wouldn’t be able to stand by and let injustice happen, not after I proved I could stand against it. “Meet at the Parliament off the Boardwalk tomorrow at dusk. We’ll plan there.”

“The new night club? Why there?”

“I have friends there, I’ll know it’s secure.”

**+++**

At home, dad and I had the first dinner together in a very long time. It was also a quiet and awkward dinner, one where I tried to ignore the page of the newspaper dad had left out. It wasn’t a headline, those were dedicated to capes and cape activities like always. No, this was the Local section warning about a new killer on the loose.

“You are a lot like your mother you know.” Dad said between bites. “She was always willing to go a distance further than anyone else for what she thought was right. Lustrum just happened to choose to be cruel about things.”

There was no point in hiding things, he obviously knew. “I’m not going to apologize for what I did.”

Dad shook his head, a sad smile on his face. “I don’t think I can expect you too. I always knew that this would happen if we sent you to that camp.”

“You knew I’d be killing people?”

“For a cause, one I’d agree with if it ever happened. Your mother’s entire family is very driven when they set their mind to something.”

I chuckled. “I kinda got that from the survival camp. Grandma especially seemed to push things harder than anyone else.” I turned my wrist over to look at the sheathed blade. “I just… why were they training us to be killers?”

“That’s not something I can answer.” Dad said while picking up our plates and putting them in the sink. “It’s not that I don’t know, it’s just not my place. I was never a part of what they did.”

“Will they ever explain why to me?”

“I think… if you do what you are planning, your grandmother will take a vested interest in informing you about everything.”

“Thanks dad.” I gave him a kiss on his cheek and went down to the basement, I had some work to do.

It was a few minutes later when I heard dad call down from the front door. “Taylor, Sophia’s here!”

I grabbed a sheet and flung it over the mannequin holding my costume, then hid my blade in the wall slot, closing it securely. “Okay dad!” Sophia came down the steps gently, something she did not normally do. Why would she do it now? “Hey Sophia, what’s up?”

Sophia grinned in a way I hadn’t seen since we first met. It was the grin of someone looking forward to a fight, almost animalistic. “I just had a really interesting meeting with my study group.” The smile did not leave her face, making me suspicious. I leaned against the wall, ready to grab my blade if needed.

“Oh? Something you can tell me is it?”

“Oh yeah,” She didn’t leave my sight and I swear she actually licked her lips. “Seems there is a killer on the loose, near the Boardwalk. I know you love that area.”

I don’t. Shit.


	5. Intruding Memory 1.a

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Data breach. Non-Subject Memory accessed. Animus/Helix compensation Activated**

**Protectorate Headquarters**

“...And that concludes the current patrol schedules.” Armsmaster said as he put away the notes. “Next up is information provided by the BBPD. Of most import is a new spree killer in the city, currently focused from the Boardwalk to Archer’s Bridge. There is no cape presence confirmed yet, but they do wish us to keep them informed if we come across anything.”

“I think I found one of their victims while I was on patrol.” Dauntless spoke up. “I was responding to a scream by a city custodian and found an Enforcer in one of the public restrooms.” He tapped the side of his throat to indicate a specific spot. “Blade right through, severed the artery. There was blood everywhere.”

Miss Militia leaned forward. “And you didn’t find a trail?”

“Not a one.” Dauntless admitted with a shrug. “The blade might have moved too fast that it didn’t have time to gather.” Militia’s power shifted through a few different knives in her hand before settling on a stiletto. “Maybe, if they were fast enough to pull it out.”

“I think I’ll talk to the morgue, see the autopsy report.”

Aegis coughed and picked up his notes. “I’ll go on pass this on to the Wards if there isn’t anything else?”

Armsmaster nodded. “Just one, a new nightclub opened on the Boardwalk. In the killer’s territory actually, founded by prostitutes that had been employed by one of the killer’s first victims. Keep an eye on it if patrols take you that way.”

Assault flipped through the notes. “‘The Parliament’ huh? Owls is an interesting theme. Looks fun.”

“Ethan…” Battery pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Just saying we could have a nice night out while doing our job.”

Aegis shook his head as the couple argued, saluted Armsmaster, and headed off the Rig and towards the PRT building on the mainland. It was a quick flight over and he passed through the Wards entrance on the roof after confirming his identity with the troopers there, then headed to the Wards barracks. As soon as the mask alarm finished, he rolled a white board out of the corner and pressed a button on the main console where Gallant was operating. A buzzer rang through the room and the adjoining quarters.

“Briefing time?” Dean questioned and Carlos nodded. “Got it.” Dean flipped a switch on the console and put his headset back on. “This is Ward-Console, disconnecting. Confirm. ...Copy. Ward-Console out.”

Carlos started copying some of his notes from the Protectorate briefing on to the white board when the rest of the Wards came in. Sophia seemed to have been working out in her quarters because she was in exercise gear and drenched in sweat, Dennis just flipped over the couch from where he had been playing video games, and Missy pulled Chris out of his lab. “Okay everyone, I have the new patrol schedules.” He took out a few files and passed them around. “Missy, Sophia, you have Route Beta-Purple-Seven.”

“Ugh, again?” Sophia growled. “I feel like me and short-stack are always in that area.”

“Someone has to babysit you.” Missy said with a roll of her eyes.

“Break it up.” Carlos ordered. “Dennis, you’re with me on Gamma-Blue-Nine. Dean, you and Chris have Delta-Orange-Three.”

Dennis scratched the back of his head. “Man do I wish Browbeat stuck around, I wouldn’t mind a console rotation over that route.”

“Parents pull all the time, it happens.” Carlos said then rapped his knuckles on the white board. “Now, important events coming up: The mayor is holding another event to try and find his niece, Dinah Alcott.”

“That’s not going anywhere.” Sophia smacked Missy upside her head for the comment. “What? He doesn’t really care, it’s just a political move.”

“Be that as it may,” Carlos stressed. “The Protectorate has been requested to make an appearance, I’ve got the sign-up sheet for anyone who wants to volunteer.”

Chris raised his hand and took the paper. “I need to get out of the lab more, yeah yeah laugh it up, so I’ll go.”

“I’ll be there out of costume if you need someone to talk to Chris.” Dean said with a smile, which Chris returned.

“And now for the least happy news I have, Predictions for the next Endbringer attack have it in a couple of months.” That sobered up the room quickly, even Sophia’s ever battle hungry mood soured. “You should all be aware that unless Brockton Bay is the target, we aren’t going to participate.” He held up his hands to forestall any complaints. “Look, it’s Piggot’s decision. Even she doesn’t want us throwing our lives away far from home.

Sophia leaned back in her seat, arms behind her head. “Is there anything that isn’t going to piss me off in that folder of yours?”

“For you Sophia? I actually do have something.” Carlos pulled out one of the sheets. “Police have informed everyone about a new killer in the Boardwalk area. What little has hit the news is ‘The Brockton Ripper’, but it’s apparently back page.”

“Okay, that is interesting. Any leads?” Sophia leaned forward with interest.

“Can you please not be so bloodthirsty?” Dean complained, purposefully looking away from his teammate.

Carlos ignored him and answered Sophia’s question. “Small blade perfectly perforating all four victims. No blood trail.”

Sophia whistled. “So they would need to be completely sure about how to kill someone?”

“Most likely.” Sophia gained a questioning look, before it became one of realization. She stood up and went to her quarters. “Shortstack and I don’t go until tomorrow so I’m going to take off.”

Sophia left the base and headed towards home, then diverted onto the bay side bus route. She got off and made her way down the streets of old wooden houses till she came to a familiar one. She skipped over the busted step and knocked on the door. “Oh, hello Sophia.”

“Hey Mr. H, is Taylor home?”

“She is, hold on.” Danny turned his head to shout into the house. “Taylor, Sophia’s here!”

There was a pause. “Okay dad!” Sophia brushed past Danny and made her way down the stairs slowly, struggling to keep the smile from growing on her face. Taylor was in the middle of the basement. “Hey Sophia, what’s up?”

Sophia’s smile threatened to tear her face apart. “I just had an interesting meeting with my study group.” Sophia’s nostrils flared in anticipation when Taylor leaned against the wall after taking a quick glance at it.

“Oh? Something you can tell me is it?”

“Oh yeah.” Sophia licked her lips. “Seems there’s a killer on the loose, near the Boardwalk. I know how much you love that area.”

Taylor’s eyes widened in shock and Sophia pounced.


	6. Sequence 1.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Find common ground, even among enemies, and they shall become allies.

Sophia pounced forward like a jungle cat and I barely had time to elbow the locker open before having to duck under her attack. Sophia ghosted through the wall, then back out into the basement within seconds, pulling the hidden blade with her. She triggered it without putting it on. “So this is how you did it? Nice.” I swept her legs out from under her, slipping on my blade and holding it to her throat

“Why are you really here Sophia?” I growled.

“I had to see it.”

“See what?”

Sophia’s grin grew feral. “This. This power, this real you. You never show this at school, in public.” She rubbed her neck as I let the blade retract. “You always hide who you really are.”

“Who I really am Sophia,” I held back my frustration as best as I could. “Is someone who has seriously reconsidered our friendship.” Sophia’s look became… sultry? The hell? “Not like that!”

“Shame, I love someone who can kick ass.”

I pointed up the stairs. “Out. Now.”

“Uh uh. I know you Taylor, we’ve been friends for a while,” Sophia tapped me on my sternum with her finger. “You never do anything without a damn good reason. Suddenly killing people? You need the best reason in the world.” She crossed her arms and sat down on the stairs. “So what’s going on?”

I sighed and sat down on the floor, pulling my notebook off the table and showing her my notes. I told her everything I had figured out on my own, why I’d killed those I had, and what my plan was. “And now you know. I’m trying to draw Coil out and avenge Dinah.”

Sophia let out a low whistle. “That is deep stuff.” She nodded her head as if deciding something. “I’m in.”

“What?”

“I said ‘I’m in’. I’m going to help you.” I just gawked at her. Sophia was absolutely crazy. “Oh don’t look at me like that. This is for a good cause right?” I nodded, still gawking. “Then we’re good. I only would have taken you down if you’d been making stuff worse.”

“I am not letting you go out helping KILL people, Sophia!” I tore at my hair. “That is literally what got you on probation in the first place!”

“Yeah but,” Sophia drawled. “You think I’m going to let you meet up with Tattletale without backup,”

“We’ll be in my club!”

“Backup that can actually fight, you’ve gotta be crazy.” Sophia stood up and stretched. “Crazier than you think I am anyway. So we going?”

I took a deep breath and let it out. “Fine, let’s go.” Sophia stepped out of the way and let me go up the stairs. “Eep!” I felt a pinch on my butt and sharply turned around to glare at Sophia, who didn’t even try to hide her smirk. “You. First.” Sophia squeezed past me, I’m pretty sure pushing into me more than necessary, and went upstairs.

For a brief moment, something about her triggered my Sense. Sophia had always been dangerous but this was… I shook my head and put it out of my mind. I could trust Sophia right now, I couldn’t imagine her harming the apparent target of her affection. I grabbed my costume and followed her out.

**+++**

Sophia and I made our way to the Parliament to meet with Tattletale, the bouncers stopping Sophia after letting me through. “Boss, who’s this?” One of the bouncers indicated Sophia, dressed in a black hoodie and one of her old hockey masks, and Sophia growled.

“Let her through, she’s with me.” The bouncer shrugged and let Sophia into the club. The music was already pounding as we slipped through the crowd and up the stairs to the VIP section. Clara, no definitely Destiny right now with the way she was draped over the couch with a client on top of her, was waiting for us. “You,” I pulled her partner off and pushed him to the door. “Time’s up, room’s booked right now.”

“Bitch, I paid for two hours!” He raised his fist to punch but Destiny put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, she’s right. I’ll comp you some drinks ok?” Destiny pleaded. “Maybe some… free time later?” The john shrugged off her hand and left the lounge and Destiny collapsed back onto the couch, not even bothering to re-button her blouse. “Could you have been a little nicer, I have to make a living ya know?”

Sophia scoffed. “And the club just ain't cutting it.”

“Who is this? Didn’t know you had a partner.” Destiny said, pointed one of her overly manicured fingers at my friend.

“An ally.” I looked out over the club, reaching out with my Sense. “Tattletale showed up.” I followed her movements and reached for the phone on the wall, dialing down to the bar when Tattletale reached it. “The blonde with freckles, seems young? She has a VIP reservation.” The bartender who answered and scanned the bar and then hung up. They indicated to Tattletale and pointed to the stairs. “Button up Destiny.” The prostitute rolled her eyes but complied, but only enough to be appropriate for the public. “Stalker, behind the door.”

Tattletale stepped into the lounge and slammed the door shut once the villain was clear. “Okay, gotta admit you have a flair for the dramatic.” She sat down across from Destiny and pulled off her backpack. “I have the location of a few of Coils’ agents. Hopefully enough to make him slip up and show himself.” She took a notebook out of her backpack and slid it over to Destiny, who leafed through it before passing it to me. “So… Wards not working out Stalker?” Tattletale’s smug smile went to full bloom when she looked behind her over her shoulder. “Grue wasn’t really happy with your little present for him.”

“Then he should get off the streets, wouldn’t need to be so harsh.” Sophia didn’t bother hiding her identity.

“And does your girlfriend know about the lethal rounds you were using while on probation?” She turned her smile on me. ‘That can’t be easy knowing she’ll just disobey whenever she wants. Must make bedtime so difficult.”

I sighed in annoyance as I continued to look through the notebook. “You’re trying to break the faith of a person actively working to become a serial killer by mentioning an ally just so happens to keep using lethal methods when she is instructed not to. Do you even have a filter or does the first thing that comes to mind simply race out like a fighter jet?”

Tattletale pouted and glared at the window overlooking the club. “You know, you really need a name.” She mused. “Kind of hard to keep calling you… ‘You’ everytime we meet. I could do Bride, considering where you obviously got the look.” I stopped turning a page and looked up at Tattletale. “Ooh, somewhere close huh? Older sister? No, you’re too young. Mom maybe?”

“Stalker.” I warned behind the villain, having caught Sophia already moving to grab the villain. Sophia stopped but didn’t resume her place. “Tattletale, I think you might want to stop that train of thought.” I held up my hand so she could see where the blade was stored, and the blonde villain gulped.

“She’s right you know, a name would help.” Destiny scratched her cheek in thought. “Hmm, something to do with owls probably.” Destiny took out a phone and began tapping away. “You got any Polish in ya?”

“Some, why?”

“Sowa. Just owl but it would probably piss off the Emps.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, you’ll call me that whether I want you to or not.” I flipped back through the notebook. “Here, Father Michael Harrison, headmaster of Our Lady of Brockton Bay Education, Immaculata’s parent. Dinah was a student at their middle school branch, Montessori. He would have heard about Dinah’s change in behavior.”

Destiny raised an eyebrow. “That’s… really high profile for a target. Police will probably be crawling it.”

Sophia nodded. “PRT keeps a presence around Immaculata and Arcadia. Rich kids, rich parents, rich teachers. You aren’t getting to this guy easily.”

“Hard is best. Makes Coil notice, try and plan. That’s not good when you already have a plan in play.” I shut the notebook. “The father meets his Maker, I make Coil angry, Coil slips up. Simple as that.”

Tattletale stared at me, then turned to Destiny. “Can I get something strong up here before I agree to this?”

Destiny reached for the phone. “On my tab, I need it too.”

I heard Sophia laugh and rolled my eyes, taking out my own notebook and started to plan how to kill the priest.


	7. Sequence 2.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stay your Blade from the Blood of the Innocent.

Our Lady of Brockton Bay, a proper cathedral built when the city was still profitable. A house of worship and beautiful architecture, the main campus houses Immaculata High School and Montessori Middle School, the premier private schools in the Bay and Dinah Alcott’s former place of education. Considering the evidence that Tattletale brought in, it’s likely Dinah started showing signs of her powers while in school and those signs would have definitely made it all the way to the Headmaster. My target, Father Michael Harrison.

It was raining and nighttime when I found a secure perch overlooking the education administrative offices of the cathedral, and I pointedly ignored the way the statues of the saints seemed to be crying while looking at me. The offices were basically empty aside from a few priests and nuns, and even then they were scattered. I focused me Senses on the office windows, waiting for Harrison to enter his office so I could strike. He entered from the side, a private bathroom I think, and sat down at his desk… followed by a smaller figure leaving the bathroom and then the office in a hurry. What?

Wait. No! Damn it! Now I know I can’t let Harrison get away!

I climbed up on one of the saints and jumped off to the opposing roof, gripping the gutter as it bent under my weight and bracing my feet on the brickwork and leaning forward so it wouldn’t break. I purposefully slipped downwards to grip onto a grotesque angel next to Harrison’s window, then made a small leap to grab onto the outer edges of the window. I released my blade and forced it to unlatch the window and kicked my way inside.

“What the!? Who are you?” Harrison screamed, then his eyes fell on my blade. “No, no!” He ran out of his office and down the hall, meaning I had to chase after him. I skid into the hall after him and jumped out of a window to keep pace with him along the courtyard rooftop, staying just outside his vision as he panicked through the thankfully empty halls.

Then he entered the cathedral proper and slowed down considerably. I think he was trying to hide from me. Unfortunately for him, Sanctuary was abolished centuries ago. I slipped in by opening another window and crawled along the rafters,a bolt of lightning distracting me so I lost track of him. “Stay away! I haven’t done anything wrong!” Harrison’s voice echoed through the sanctuary, followed by the distinct sound of his sobbing in terror.

He was close. I jumped across the chandelier in the center and onto the opposite rafters. The sobbing was louder here. I looked down and saw that there was a confessional booth under a depiction of Jesus whipping sellers from the Temple. The irony of Harrison’s choice of hiding spot was not lost on me. But I knew if I just dropped down, then he would make a run for it… which may be easier than busting open the confessional.

I hung from the rafter, positioned right over the confessional roof, and dropped. “Aaah!” Harrison stumbled out of the confessional in a hurry and I pounced down on to his back blade first.

**I rolled Harrison over in the dandelions so I could see his face. “Why did you tell Coil about Dinah Alcott?”**

**Harrison’s eyes fluttered about in fear before settling on me. “H-he was keeping things quiet for me. I tell him about students who might have powers, he d-doesn’t let stories be told.”**

**“So blackmail?”**

**“No… He didn’t even offer it.” Harrison gasped shallowly as the dandelions stained red. “What have I done?”**

**“Ensured God’s record book would be full with your name.” I stood up to leave and let him die.**

**“And what of you?” I stopped suddenly enough that the dandelions scattered against my legs. “Have you not sinned?”**

**I turned my head back and could not resist a parting blow of mockery. “Then forgive me Father, once the log has been removed from your own eye.” I left him among the reddened weeds as the sunset became crimson.**

I picked up Harrison’s body and left him in the confessional, turning around to see a nun standing there in horror. “I’m sorry.” I whispered before stabbing her and laying her body across Harrison’s, then snuck out a side entrance. I walked farther downtown and passed a police car, but the officers inside didn’t notice me. I shifted my costume quickly into its dress form and hopped on a bus towards the Boardwalk and back to the Parliament.

**+++**

“So, how did it go?” Destiny asked, pouring a glass of wine. “If I turn on the radio, I am going to hear about a desecration in the house of God?”

I leaned on the window overlooking the club. “Probably.”

“Sowa… I’ve been trying not to think too much about this, but you are killing people. Do they all deserve it?” She was afraid of me

“...No Clara, I killed someone today who didn’t deserve it.” My mind flashed to the nun. “I just couldn’t risk her knowing my face.”

“I see.” Clara set down her wine and put a hand on my shoulder. “I want you to know that I trust you, just be careful. I don’t want to wake up one morning seeing you paired with Jack Slash.”

I nodded and turned around to give Clara a hug. “Alright, I’ll keep it to just targets as best as I can.”

“That’s all I ask.” Clara pulled out Tattletale’s target list. “Now I think I have another good option. Seems a Police Captain has been feeding information to Coil about patrol routes in exchange for eliminating some decent cops.” She held out the name on a slip to me. “Captain Jane McCoy. Interested?”

I took the slip and put it in my pocket, then turned to leave when I felt something. On the floor was a blonde girl in gothic dress and a porcelain doll mask. Behind her were dancing stuffed animals. “Did you hire Parian for something?”

“Hmm?” Clara looked out the window. “Yeah, she offered to do a few nights a week here for birthdays, why do you ask?”

I thought I Saw something about Parian when she looked up to the VIP area, but I couldn’t anymore. “Nothing, just odd. I’ll go prepare for the next target.”


	8. Sequence 2.2

One would think my costume would stick out like a sore thumb, even in its disguise arrangement, but if there is one thing to be thankful for in a cesspool of a city with a high cape population, it’s the idea of ‘cape chique’ fashion. I may not listen to a lot of what Emma says about modeling, but clothes inspired by cape costumes are still popular things. It’s helped me keep a good distance from Captain Sanders in Lord’s Market without alerting him, he probably just thinks there are a few more Glory Girl groupies around than normal.

He’s stopped looking. Back straighter, longer steps on toes, tie hair into bun... perfect! Now just to copy what Clara’s girls do and I’m another _adult_ woman out on the town, not a teen skipping school. I do not need more problems for dad if the one truant officer in this city decides to do their job today, hard enough ignoring the phone calls. Sanders looked my way and smiled.

Shit! This was not the plan, makes it too obvious and I cannot afford to be recognized. I smile back as best as I can and strut around some groups and down a side street of Lord’s Market. I quickly purchase a heavily discounted Bad Canary Carnevale mask for a few coins and put it on with my face as I step just out of Sanders’ view. I really don’t want to make it easy for the PRT if he’s wearing a camera. I lead him farther and farther away from the hustle and bustle, but not so far he would think I’m doing anything but getting privacy. “The mask is pretty, you a fan? Shame what happened.” He said, trying to butter me up. He reaches down but I grab his hand and place it against the stone work.

I shake a finger in his face with the coyest smile I can manage, running my fingers over each other with my other hand. He blinks a little and then starts fumbling for his coin purse while I turn around to ‘fumble’ with my outfit. I pull my hood over my head as soon as I hear the clear jingle of coins into his hand. “Here, this should do for a- Wait, you’re the-!” I stabbed his stomach before he could finish reaching for his radio, the coins in his hand clattering to the ground. I didn’t bother trying to get anything out of him, I already knew it was pure greed and nothing else.

Then a crossbow bolt whizzed past my forehead into the ground. “Next one’s going through your knee.” The voice may have been covered by a modulator, but that was pure Sophia. “Hands where I can see ‘em.” I stood up from the corpse and left my blade extended, and I could tell through the slight tinting in the stern face that Sophia recognized it, so I gave a short nod that could look like a bow of the head. “Console, got a perp dead to rights. Caught ‘em just as they finished off a vic. Looks like our Ripper.”

Good Sophia, keep it professional. Sophia stepped towards me, bow still raised towards my center mass. She knew her mask’s footage would be reviewed, she was alone and definitely off her patrol route right now. She jabs the bow into my side and twists down my _right_ arm. Sorry Sophia, but it was your idea right now. As she rotates to force me to the ground I roll and make a slice across her arm, barely scratching the fabric but making it look like I caught her by surprise enough that I could pull away.

“Oh no you don’t!” Sophia roars after me as I hop onto a fire escape and scamper up the side of the building. She’s behind me in seconds and I see her reform from her gaseous state out of the corner of my eye. I know she’s not a threat but I See her as one right now because she might have to actually hurt me to keep the illusion. I jump from rooftop to rooftop, moving as fast as I can in a zig-zag to keep Sophia’s aim off. Climbing across higher jumps is the hard part, because Sophia actually can get close.

“Ergh!” In fact, she does right in my shoulder but I have to fight through it and keep moving before she takes my head off. I’m getting tired, must be tranqs. Gotta keep moving. I climb up a pigeon coop and across another roof onto a flag pole. The edge of the pole is multiplying in my vision, I don’t have long left. A sound I don’t recognize hovers over me and I can barely look up as I crawl to see Kid Win on his hoverboard.

“Stand Down and you won’t be harmed.”

“Win, I got her!”

Kid Won looked away to raise a hand at Sophia. Now! “Stalker, you could-!” I dove off the pole into the bay, pulling at the waves as soon as my feet made contact. I broke the surface under a dock and drifted against a boat. It was covered, probably for fish, and I pulled myself in and under before I lost consciousness.

It... feels like... mom’s arms...

My arms opened in a silent scream. I struggled with the darkness around me, bugs crawling all over me. Had to get out had to get out had to get out! Where am I?! Emma!? Sophia! ...No, I remember now. _Sophia_ drugged me. I growled at the thought, then shook it away. It was the best option, the only option, to keep the illusion she wasn’t a psychopathic killer. I took a few deep breaths and looked up to the sky. Shit, night. Dad’s gonna be _so_ pissed at me. Not like we really talk anymore. “God, get it together Taylor!” I say to myself, trying to work out the buzzing jumble in my head. “_You’re_ the one not talking to him.”

I crawl out of the boat and pulled my hood over my head, taking the short walk to Parliament instead of trying to navigate the bus routes with the PRT actively looking for me. I went through the back door p, the ‘private employee entrance’, and practically collapsed into one of the dancer’s dressing rooms. A few screamed when I opened the door and didn’t stop even when I fell onto the couch face first, but the bouncers just escorted them elsewhere. A few minutes later I heard a click-clack of heels following a squeak of trainers.

“Clara, Tattletale. Not in the mood.” I mumbled into the sofa’s arm.

“Yeah, I bet you wouldn’t be. Stalker got me a signal before she went dark again.” Tattletale said, sitting down in one of the vanity chairs with a squeak and and propping her feet up on the counter itself, her purple hoodie making her completely out of place. “You are so lucky you have me around to keep your face clear enough to not be pinged. I mean really? A Canary mask?”

“Give her a break Lisa, she’s been through a day.” Clara opened my hand put some pills into it and set a bottle of water down next to the couch. “Curtesy of Grissom. It’s caffeine.” I rolled over and took the pills and the water.

I rubbed my face to clear out the butterflies fluttering in my head. “Are we any closer to Coil? How many guys do I have to go through now?”

Lisa dropped my notebook onto the table. “If I’m right, just him.” I peeked out from between my fingers and i know Clara was looking at the villain in surprise. “Look, Coil’s been getting really antsy lately. I mean _really_ antsy. Something has him spooked and I think it’s you Sowa.”

“What do you mean?”

“Coil’s smart enough to notice when a few of his guys get shanked. He’s been having me ‘look into’ you from the papers and police files. Each time we talk, he seems more riled up than before, like someone walked over his grave.” Lisa flipped through the book and opened it to a Fortress Construction ad, a bunker for Endbringers. “He’s actually pulling stuff back to his base, he called me in with them.”

“That means you know where he is.” Clara said and turned to me. “This might all be over soon.”

I looked Lisa dead in the eye and we both could feel the brush of dandelions at our legs. “Are you absolutely sure about this?”

“It’s our only way in. If we don’t move when I’m supposed to be there, he won’t give us another chance.”

I stood up and started pacing the room. “You said he always gets the answer he wants. Have you figured out how?”

Lisa shook her head. “Ideas, but nothing else. I know this could be a trap for both of us, for all I know he tortured and killed me somehow but wants me alive to bring you in.”

“What did Obi-Wan say in _Resurrection of the Sith_? ‘Sometimes you have to spring the trap to know what it is.’?” Clara offered. We shared a smiled in agreement and the door knocked. I pulled my hood up and slipped my mask back on, Clara shifting her stance to be more alluring and pushing her chest out to become Destiny.

I nodded and she opened the door, letting in... Parian? I shared a look with Lisa who simply shrugged in response. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was told you were here Clara and I wanted to schedule another night. Is this a bad time?” The rogue’s voice was a gentle stage whisper, like a breeze through my ears. I assume it was to play up the cutesy doll imagery, but something about bothers me. I See her almost flashing when I look at her, I don’t have any idea why she bothers me so.

“No, no it’s okay Parian. What nights do you want?” Destiny took a napkin and a mascara pencil and got ready to write.

Parian shyly rubbed her left wrist. “Well, it will have to be a few nights from now. My mother needs me to do something soon, outside of this,” she clinked her porcelain mask. “I really don’t want to disappoint her.” Her timbre dropped for a second and I swear she looked at me when it did. My Sight was still unsure about what was going on and it bothered me! What’s the point of having a superpower if it can’t help you?

“Okay, here’s my office number.” Destiny handed the napkin over to Parian. “Your shows have actually gone over pretty well for a girl who usually does children’t puppet theater.”

“Gotta branch out to more stuff to keep the money coming in. More adult puppets may be out of my usual repertoire, that is true. But when you have to do what you have to do, everything is permitted.” Again I felt like she was saying that to me, but she gave a curtsy and left the room before I could even open my mouth.

“I’m not the only one who felt that right?” Lisa asked after a few minutes. “Cause that was seriously off for a rogue, trust me.”

“Let’s focus on the problem at hand. How long do we have?”

“Tomorrow, that’s when he wants my report.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll have Sophia break away from patrol when we’re done, she’ll bring the body out to the public and then they’ll get Dinah to safety.”


	9. Sequence 2.3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never Compromise the Brotherhood.

_“Coil’s instructions say to go to the Endbringer shelter under Seventeenth.” Lisa explained a few hours before dawn. “Officially that bunker was never finished because it pierced the aquifer, a huge liability for a port city with Leviathan around.”_

_“And unofficially?” Sophia questioned with a slight yawn._

_“Perfect base for a Bond villain.”_

_I looked over the blueprints Lisa acquired from the official Fortress Construction records. “The entrance is here right? At the old arcade.”_

_“Yep. And we have only a few hours to get ready.” Lisa let out a sigh. “Coil has to be expecting us and we have no idea how many scenarios he’s prepared for. We will have one shot at this.” She looked me dead in the eyes. “Otherwise we’re both dead.”_

_I looked down at the blueprints again, then extended my blade and stabbed it down._

I pulled myself from my memories when my pager went off. It was Sophia’s personal number, meaning she was on patrol and going to break off in a half-hour. Lisa was already on her way into the bunker and Clara was standing by at the Parliament to make an emergency call to the PRT that Sophia could intercept officially. That just left me and the hardest part of the plan, getting inside without being killed. I decided the best way was to use the official fault and come up through the aquifer. That meant getting underneath Brockton Bay, which means only one option.

The sewer system. I sucked in a deep breath and flipped myself through the lip of the sewer pipe poking out over the bay. Oh god, this is horrible! Easy Taylor, easy. I trudged through the much to a weak point Lisa had discovered that would spill the sewer line into the aquifer. I wasn’t exactly happy about this option but we didn’t have anything better.

I knocked on the aging brick until I felt one of them shift. I extended my blade and moved it out of place and out into the aquifer. Once that was free I pushed on the wall until it gave a little, then slammed my shoulder into it. Ow! Not a smart idea. I’m tall, not wide and muscled. On the third slam the bricks completely gave way and I fell into the aquifer.

“Cold! Cold!” I shivered at the impact but stirred myself and swam to the edge of the room. I pulled myself together and opened my eyes to See, letting the water peel away. There was a current coursing below me and inwards towards the city, right where I needed to go. I took a deep breath and dived down and carried into the current. I stayed myself mostly to the edge in Riptide Rules, flattening myself against the edge of the opening as it carted me in. As soon as I was through I raced to the surface above me and sucked in the stale, musty air of the cavern.

I took a moment to steady my breathing before diving again and in that time I Saw and saw something that bothered me. The cavern was... wrong. There was plenty of stalactites and silicate on the walls because of the water, but parts were smooth. Manufactured. Constructed. And my Sight it... “Are those, circuit lines?”

I shook my head and ignored it. I’d investigate later if I wasn’t dead. I focused on where the aquifer was pierced, a perfect tunnel. “Looks like Coil was planning on looking into this stuff too.” I took a deep breath and dived, swimming up the pipe into the bunker. I came to a grate just on top of the water. I sucked in quick breaths before ducking back down and extending my blade. I wedge an opening and pushed the grate up, letting myself into the bunker. I closed the grate and slipped behind a corner. My Sight saw the vision of a security camera and ducked around it as best as I could.

Coil may know I’m here but I don’t want to make it easy for him. There were rafters, Coil hadn’t fully completed the construction. Good. I scampered up one of the walls by repeatedly pushing myself against the corner it was attached to. I don’t know how many levels Coil added to the original shelter, but these rafters will make movements a lot easier. I crawled along the rafters until I came to a wall. It was the temporary kind, something you expect to see in an office space for the illusion of privacy.

“So the Undersiders really were working for the boss?” I heard a grunt say from the other side.

“Yeah. You shoulda been there when she walked into the boss’ office. Her face when her team was ready and waiting for her!” My eyes widened. Lisa had been captured and her old team was here!?

“Is the boss gonna kill her?”

“Probably. He’s been real weird recently. That hood girl’s been really messing with him.”

“...Hey, you think the rumors are true? That she’s a, _ya know_?” That I’m what?

“No I don’t and I don’t care.”

_“Patrols, report in.” _Both of their radios sounded.

The first one answered. “Upper 2 here. All clear.” The rest of the various patrols signaled their position. “Come on, we better keep moving.” Their footsteps started moving away towards my left. As soon as they were past I wedged one of the walls open and inside. I followed the path I could See, staying both low and silent. The two stopped under a camera and waved to it, and I ducked around a corner just as they turned around. The hall was too small to hide on the ceiling, so I waited until they reached the corner and jumped them.

My blade went straight through the neck of the one on my left as I brought my elbow down on the one of the right, quickly pulling out and stabbing him before he could react. I grabbed their guns and tied the holsters to my legs, I knew I’d need the advantage. I shifted another wall and slipped out on to the rafters again. I passed over more guards who started patrolling more actively. It seems their compatriots were noticed to be missing, meaning Coil was definitely sure I was here.

My thoughts were confirmed as I approached the original center of the shelter. _“Come now Sowa, let’s drop the pretense and get down to business.”_ Apparently he had an intercom installed, and I just know it was to taunt anyone who got inside. I dropped down from the rafters and on to the floor where one of Coil’s guards was standing. She jumped back in surprise and I pushed my way past her into the door she was guarding. Inside was an office more akin to an Ivy professor than a super-villain; wood paneling, fake fire on the opposite wall to the door, a veritable library of books, red carpet rolled out to an oaken desk with a high-tech computer terminal resting on it. The only really gaudy thing was the high backed chair Coil sat in, framed against the fireplace, to make him seem like something out of an old cartoon than a threat. His black bodysuit and gold snake practically tattooed to it helped the image.

“See?” Coil asked, pulling his hands away from their steepled position. “Aren’t things so much better when we don’t have to hurt each other?”

A growl came from his side where a combination of dinosaur and tiger was resting, a large girl in a furred suit sitting on top of its back between bones. Next to her was a boy dressed as a harlequin and a biker. The Undersiders: Bitch, Grue, and Regent. On Coil’s opposite side was Lisa, not tied up but a grunt had a gun against her head. “You know why I’m here Coil.”

“Indeed I do, little Dinah.” I could hear the smirk in his voice but it was dripping in venom. “I’m honestly surprised one of your kind would go to so much effort for a single, little, girl.” Again with people thinking I’m part of something.

I glanced at the Undersiders and Grue and Regent were shifting in my Sight. They weren’t sure if they should keep trusting Coil. “You kidnapped a child for her powers. What are you doing to make her work for you?”

Coil let put a mirthless chuckle. “What every child wants, a piece of candy.”

“So drugs then?” Coil shrugged and I Saw Grue and Regent slowly start to move, they were on my side. Bitch wasn’t but she wasn’t against me either, following Grue’s lead. “You’re about to kill me, you’ve got some kind of gun aimed fo my head somewhere.”

Coil reached below his desk and leveled his gun at me. “How true.” All facsimile of joviality was gone. “You, girl, have been a thorn in my side.”

“Oh?”

“Yes yes, you couldn’t really know. The point is that I have had to deal with your blade more times than I’d care to count.” He pulled the slide of the gun back, readying a bullet. “Now Assassin, you will die.”

His finger squeezed the trigger but suddenly his arm jerked to his left and shot his minion through the heart. I took the opportunity and rushed forward, vaulting over the desk and kneeing him in the sternum. My momentum spun the chair around towards the fire and I pushed Coil’s head through the grate as I stabbed into his heart.

** _The field of dandelions were coated with bodies and stained red with countless amounts of blood. Businessmen, Coil costumes, PRT Trooper uniforms, casual clothes. I pulled Coil’s mask off and saw his face matched the others._ **

** **

** _“Grkh! ...So many times we have been here Assassin.” Coil said with a cruel smile. “Never before has my power hurt me so greatly.”_ **

** **

** _I pulled him closer to my face. “All because you took a little girl and I could fit the pieces together.”_ **

** **

** _“Hah!” Coil let out a bloody laugh. “You unraveled only a small portion of the tapestry.” He glared at me as his breathing slowed “I may be put of the game but the contest has only entered the next phase.” _ **

** **

** _“What do you mean!?”_ **

** **

** _Coil let out another, cold chuckle. “You’ll... see...”_ **

** **

I pulled his head out of the fire and flung it to the side. “Rot in hell.” I turned towards the desk where Lisa was furiously typing at the computer. “What’s going on?”

Lisa stopped typing and let her hands rest on the desk. “We couldn’t stop him.”

“Stop. What?”

Lisa turned to me and stepped aside from the computer. Displayed were across threads across the internet. “Coil just released the identity of every Parahuman in Brockton Bay on to the World Wide Web. He pretty much declared open season between the gangs and Protectorate.”

“Welp, I’m out.” Regent dramatically turned around and started marching for the door.

“That’s not going to change anything Alec, your father will be able to follow you from here.” Lisa implored. “You’d be safer if he came into this mess than out on your own.” Regent stopped, thought about, then shrugged and walked back to the desk.

Grue slammed a fist on the desk. “I need to get Aisha!”

I turned to Bitch who just shrugged. “I didn’t really have a secret identity.”

Lisa looked towards Coil’s body. “We’re going to need to make a message, that Coil is dead, if there is any chance for cool heads to prevail.” She looked at me, or kore specifically at the compass brooch on my costume. “The Undersiders will need to make the power play and we’ll need something to be a flag.”

“No way am I bringing the heat down on us like that Lisa!” Grue roared.

“We don’t have a choice Brian! The whole city knows we worked for Coil now, so we can play it off as revenge!” Lisa grabbed my shoulder and pulled me over. “This girl right here? She terrifies me because she was already going after Coil before I was dragged into this. And I bet she would have won!”

“She’s got my vote.” Bitch spoke up, surprising everyone. “She had a reason for doing all this, for bringing the fight to Coil. I understand that.”

Regent took off his mask and scratched his head. “...Yeah, I say Yes too.” He noticed his teammates look of confusion. “Look, my dad’s a monster and that guy,” he pointed at Coil’s corpse. “Reminds me way too much of him. If hoodie over here can teach me to do what she does, maybe I can make my dad pay.”

“Brian?” Lisa looked to her leader.

“...I just wanted a quick buck, to make a home for Aisha.” Brian pulled off his helmet. “But now I can’t keep her safe without a rep. Fine, we’ll follow Sowa’s lead.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?” I asked. “I only went after Coil to save Dinah.”

“And by doing so you made Coil come up with this nuclear option.” Lisa poked me in my chest. “This _is_ your fault so you better own up to it.”

I looked at the villains and took a deep breath. “Fine, but only until this city finds some kind of status quo.” I pushed Lisa back in front of the computer. “Now find Dinah while I figure out how get the message out.”

Dinah was in a bed in a cell that most solitary confinement would consider cruel. We took her out and got her warm while I dragged Coil’s body out of the office. His guards started to flee out of the bunker and I dropped Coil just inside the entrance. Lisa was right that we needed something to rally behind and i did see her looking at my brooch. I cut lines into his costume and then continued dragging Coil out on to the roof tops. I carried him a good distance away and signaled both Clara and Sophia, dropping him off the roof on to the rioting streets below. I felt a great pleasure in the crowds actually stopping and looking up at my hooded form before I ducked out of sight.

Some remnant of wanting to be a superhero I guess. But I still had work to do if I was going to make this city at least return to its usual brand of crazy.


	10. Sequence 2.4

“Dad!” I wrapped my arms tight around him the moment he was in my sight when he got to the base, never wanting to let go. “Thank god you’re okay.”

He petted my hair gently and I ignored the tears that fell onto my forehead. “What? You think a couple of cops were going to bring in your old man?” He choked out. “I went to rallies with your mother!” Dad and I laughed together for the first time in… forever really. He pushed me out of his arms and held me at length. “But I’m more worried about you. Are you okay? With everything that’s going on-”

“Dad…” I took in a deep breath. “It’s my fault. Everything right now is my fault.” Some kind of wall inside me, that thing I started putting up years ago with a rabbit in my lap, crumbled. **_The dandelions of my happy place were empty and the clouds were stirring a storm ready to whisk me away on the wind. “I d-din’t t-th-th-ink a-aa-a-a-nnn-y-thing thro-hu-h-hu-h-uugh!” I fell to my knees, my father cradling me in his arms as I wept. “I-I-I-I-I-’mmmm a horr-r-r-r-ibbb-l-l-le p-p-er-so-so-n!”_**

** **

** _“Shh, shh. No you’re not baby girl, no you’re not.”_ **

** **

**_“I KILLED PEOPLE! And it was so e-he-he-he-heasy!” Dad didn’t answer and just held me to his chest as the storm slowly dissipated._** I don’t know how long we sat there in the middle of the base’s foyer. I think Dad stopped holding back the tears at some point, but I really couldn’t remember.

“Are you okay?” Dad asked me, his voice cracked dry. I nodded and he helped me to my feet, leading me to a chair in the main office so I could sit. “Taylor I…” Dad tried to look me in the eyes but I Saw my reflection in his eyes replaced by mom. “You are so much like your mother, but are so much like me too. Her heart, my passion.” He pulled at my hood and gently let it rest over my head, then his hands slid down my arms and rested on my blade. “I said I would always support you, especially if you were doing this. I’m not stopping that now.” I smiled and rubbed some more tears from my eyes, knocking the hood back off. We had a good laugh at that.

“I’m sorry to tear up this tearful moment,” Lisa said from the office desk, clicking away at the computer. “But Grue just texted saying he’s picked up the Barnes’ family and they’re on their way here.” Good, that’s good. “He also said that Alan wasn’t exactly happy being moved when there was so much chaos going on at work.”

“Why would Uncle Alan be having trouble at work?”

“Apparently one of the partners, Carol Dallon aka Brandish, was freaking out like crazy when the bomb dropped. From what Grue gathered from Alan’s complaining, Sarah Pellham aka Lady Photon was _super_ angry. Then she got a call a few minutes ago and was screaming about Sarah being missing.” Lisa turned her chair to face me and dad. “Look, New Wave would barely be affected by this so there is pretty much no reason for Lady Photon to be upset right now.”

I blinked in obvious confusion. “And…?” I gestured for her to continue.

“I’m just saying it’s suspicious!” Lisa through her hands in the air in exasperation. “My power says Photon Mom knew _something_ about this, but not anything more than that!” A beep came from the computer and Lisa brought something up on the screen. “And the according to traffic lights, Hannah Washington aka Miss Militia has broken off from her patrol route. And Kaiser is nowhere to be seen at _any_ of the Empire’s rallies right now.”

I looked to dad as I stood up. He shrugged and said “Your mother had a philosophy. ‘Once is annoying, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.’ Three major players missing during a crisis?”

I nodded. “Something is going on. Lisa?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you have any idea where Miss Militia was heading?”

“Let’s see…” She started typing on the keyboard. “Judging by the traffic lights she’s heading into the warehouses along the old docks, like Revolutionary old.”

Dad stood up and went to look over the computer. “There’s some old tunnels that way, built by the Masons. Most collapsed as the city started digging deeper but I think some might still be around.” I flicked my wrist to test my blade, then pulled my hood over my head as I stalked out of the base and into the city.

“Hey!” Lisa called out and tossed something to me when I turned. It was an earpiece. “Keep that on so we don’t lose each other.” I nodded and fit the piece into my right ear, then left.

+++

The city had searchlights from practically every roof, helicopters patrolling the skies, and if a cape had the capability they were there with them. Everyone was an enemy right now and I could not afford to be noticed. Which is not easy when one needs to get south-east to the oldest part of the city. “Shit this night.” I ducked behind an air conditioner when I heard the voice. It was a man, dressed in Merchant colors and holding a rifle lazily. “You’d think with all the money we got we could, I don’t know, take shifts? Shit, i need something.”

_“Is he moving?”_ Lisa asked me. I shook my head just enough for the rustle of my hood and hair could make it through the microphone. _“Great, he’s just a whiner instead of a quitter. Figure out something but don’t do anything that could get the drop on you later.”_

I lean against the AC and whistle, drawing the thug’s attention. I stabbed him in the throat and dragged him to the ground, stuffing him between the two units. At the very best I should have a few hours before somebody really comes looking if they think he went to get a fix.

_“Okay Taylor, one of the surviving entrances should be somewhere close. Maybe you can use that talent of yours to find it?”_ I rolled my eyes, already having moved to where my Sight indicated it would be. It was a ditch in the ground, a section squared out like it used to be a cellar. I felt around the wall and pushed in, opening the entrance that had probably been hidden by a house’s foundation and slipped inside, the wall sealing shut behind me.

“Shit.” For once, my Sight was basically useless down here. I really didn’t want to take out any source of light in case my targets were here, but I could barely see anything. “Shit!” I yelped far louder than I would have liked. The best I can describe is a ghost walked past me and kept doing so, like a record stuck on loop. The ghost was dressed in military fatigues and had a bandana dangling from her neck. “Miss Militia?”

_“What, you found her already?”_

“No I… I think I know where she is.” I followed the ghost through the tunnels and to a crevasse that she climbed down into. I saw some rafters and jumped across to them, following the apparition from above. Then there was a steady light from camp flashlight coming from a room beneath me.

“-ch longer do ya think she’ll be?” A modulated voice asked.

A male sigh echoed from a metal hole. “She’ll be here when it is the best time, no more no less.”

“I don’t like this.” Lady Photon stated, I’d heard her voice enough on tv to recognize that at least.

“We’re all dealing with things as best as we can Sarah.” And that was Miss Militia, meaning the echo was probably Kaiser and yep! There was some plate metal clanging as one of the residents of the room moved.

“Dealing!?” The modulated voice shouted. “_They_ are in the city now!” Again with someone thinking I’m part of another group. “Not to mention ol’ Tommy’s last Fuck You!”

“And that has been accounted for.” A new voice spoke up, flat as a Midwestern plain and so generic I’d almost put it out of my mind as soon as I heard it. “This was not an unanticipated development.” I heard scraping of chairs on stone, alongside clanging from Kaiser’s armor, as the first four stood up. “Be seated. The path Thomas’ actions have put us on is a dangerous one, but one that will be all the better for humanity.”

Lady Photon growled. “This was not what we agreed on!”

Kaiser barked a laugh. “You agreed? You are only here because you took down Maquis! You haven’t earned the right to complain. At least Bakuda,” probably one of the ones I didn’t know, I guessed the modulated one. “Had a reason to join after the ABB recruited her. You joined because you felt guilty!”

“Watch your tongue Maxwell.” A gun clicked and I think Miss Militia just armed herself.

“Enough.” The newest voice commanded. “It is true this was not part of the overall plan, but the agreement did say each member could arrange the board how they pleased. This has merely put everyone on the same playing field again.”

“And what about Coil’s killer?” Bakuda asked. “If _they_ are getting involved, we need to nip it in the bud. NOW.”

There was silence for a little while before the evident leader spoke again. “No, we shall treat this as we did Sarah’s introduction. The Assassins,” Assassins? That’s what Coil called me. I thought he was being dramatic. Is it a rival group to this one? “are now a player in this game, just as you are. They have simply taken Coil’s place.”

“Grand Master,” Miss Militia questioned. “Is that wise? Letting the Assassins run freely has not been historically a safe move.”

“Their presence does not significantly alter the path, it only makes your own actions more challenging. Think of it as if one of the others gained a new advantage, nothing more.”

“As you say, Grand Master.”

A chair was moved, followed soon by others. “Very well. This may be one of the last times we meet short of another emergency, at which point I will contact you. Now i must brief our agents elsewhere. May the Father of Understanding Guide Us.”

“May the Father of Understanding Guide Us.” Holy. Fuck. Some of the biggest heroes and villains are in a conspiracy, no a CULT and were treating everything like a game. I wonder what- No time to think as I scramble up one of the walls and hang there as they leave. I’m hanging for around six minutes before I feel comfortable dropping out of the rafters and into the main part of the tunnel.

I slowly made my way out and into the city, back out the way I came or as close as I could manage. Storm clouds had formed over the city and a crack of thunder heralded my return from the underground. I was making my way onto the rooftops when I Saw it. I rolled to the side as my attacked pounced from above me.

It was a woman dressed in blck robes I’d associate with a devout Muslim. “Interloper!” She screamed and attacked me again with a right hook. I spun around her and brought her down with a leg sweep but she used the momentum to propel herself into a donkey kick to my face. “You will pay for what you’ve done!” She straddled me and I could see the pure rage in her eyes.

The woman raised her left hand a needle sprung from her wrist. My eyes widened in shock at the movement before springing my own blade to cut at her face. She rolled back enough for me to push her off. Then I ran.

The rain began to pour, the rooftops were slick and uneven, and I could hear the splashing footbeats of my aggressor. She moved like I did, had to have _trained_ like I did to do so.

Is she… an Assassin?

I lose my step on a loose shingle and slip down onto an open roof. Lightning flashes and my attacker's shadow spreads out before me. She jumps down and extends a needle from each wrist. I spring my own blade and got ready to fight.

“Enough!” A woman’s voice called from the side. My attacker and I both turn to look, a woman dressed in a hoodie made of leather stood with her arms behind her back in the rain.

My attacker was aghast. “But Mentor, she has defied our Creed with out own teachings!” Wait, that voice… now that it’s calmer…

“Parian?” She turned to glare at me and pulled down the facial covering. It was Parian’s real face, Sabah Asfour!

“You have no right to speak interloper! Your willful disregard of the Creed has brought nothing but misery to this city!”

“Sabah.” The woman cautioned and approached me. “We cannot hold malice in the place of ignorance.” She pulled off her hood and my jaw dropped in shock. “It’s been a few years Taylor.” Rosanne Jacobs, my maternal grandmother greeted me.

+++

I led my grandmother and Sabah to my base, but it was a silent affair. Sabah would not cease glaring at me and grandma… she’d always been hard to read. When we got inside, grandma immediately went over to dad and appraised him. “Daniel. You are doing well.” The appraisal was lacking.

“Rosanne, didn’t think I’d see you after I picked up Taylor for the last time.”

“You know why I am here and I’m disappointed that you never told Taylor when it became clear what she was doing.”

I backed away from the argument and patendly ignored the still glaring Sabah, making my way over to Emma and Sophia dressed in her pre-Ward equipment. Emma practically tackled me with her hug. “I’m so glad you and Sophia are okay! I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

“Be a total bitch, probably.” I said with a smile. Sophia chuckled at that while Emma pouted. “How did you get away?” I asked the ghostly hero.

“Wasn’t easy, but they bought my excuse that my family needed me.” She glanced at the Undersiders, specifically Grue. “You sure working with them is a good idea?”

“We’re all in the same boat Sophia. Speaking of which…” I turned to my still arguing grandmother and father. “Will one of you explain what is going on? I just got attacked by a seamstress out of nowhere!”

“Nowhere!?” Sabah marched up to me and pushed a finger into my chest. “You have ruined years of peace for a selfish action!”

“...please keep it down…” We both looked over to the corner where the quiet voice had spoken from. Dinah Alcott was laying in a pile of Bitch’s dogs, obviously having just woken up.

I… I can’t believe I had forgotten about her. She was the reason I started this in the first place. “I’m sorry Dinah. It’s been a frustrating day.” I knelt down next to her and ruffled her hair.

My grandmother sighed. “I suppose it would be best to explain everything.” She looked around the room at ever individual there, before resigning herself. “Whoever wrote the third tenant never anticipated situations like this.” She mumbled. “I am an Assassin, of the Brotherhood of Assassins. Your mother was one as well, as is Sabah.”

“Brotherhood of Assassins?” Lisa asked. “Like from the Crusades?”

Sabah nodded. “That is where our name comes from, but we are as old as human civilization.”

“As are our enemies.” My grandmother continued. “What you would call the Order of the Knights Templar is simply the most pervasive incarnation, continuing to this very day.”

“And what exactly does that mean?” I questioned. “Why did Sabah attack me?”

“I attacked you because you have taken the training of the Assassins, taken our robes, and used them for your own ends.” Sabah kept her voice low but its intensity filled the room. “And to make matters worse, your ignorance causes you to flaunt the Creed and its teachings.”

“Creed?” Alec asked, feigning nonchalance.

Sabah and my grandmother spoke, recited, at the same time. “Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent.” A nun passed through my mind. “Hide in plain sight.” The phantom pains of a beating I took when going after the Enforcers twinged. “Never compromise the Brotherhood.” It was now that I noticed that grandma’s leather jacket had the same compass symbol as my brooch. ...The symbol I took for the Undersiders.

My grandmother approached me and I could feel her hawk like gaze judging me. “We had intended to induct you in the next year, but your father removed you from our care.” The camp, I thought. “And now you have endangered many Assassins.” Grandma rubbed her brow. “I’m supposed to kill you for this but I cannot in good conscience do so when your actions where in ignorance.” Sabah scoffed but grandma ignored her. “We shall continue the ruse you have developed and phase this criminal organization out. Eventually we shall fall back into obscurity.”

“No.” I almost didn’t hear myself.

“What was that?”

“I said. No.” I pulled off my hood and stared directly into my grandmother’s eyes. “I’m sorry that I fucked up so bad that people are getting hurt, but I can’t stop now.” I pointed over at Sabah. “Before Little Miss Muffett over there jumped me, I just found out superheroes and supervillains have a conspiracy for this city, one I helped make worse by killing Calvert. I can’t just fade into the shadows now. Too many ‘Innocents’ are in danger.” It was mocking and biting but I got my point across.

“What conspiracy?” Grue asked.

I took in a deep breath. “Miss Militia, Lady Photon, Kaiser, Bakuda of the ABB, Coil, and some woman I didn’t know are… competing against each other for the city.”

Grandma and Sabah shared a look. “We’ll dedicate some time to it while we are preparing an exit strategy but it cannot be our primary concern.” Grandma said diplomatically.

I shook my head. “No, this cult of theirs has to be a primary focus if you are staying.”

“Cult?” Sabah sucked in through her teeth as she spoke. “What did they say that makes you think that?”

“I can’t imagine anything but a cult closing a meeting with a phrase like ‘May the Father of Understanding Guide Us’.” Grandma and Sabah gaped at me. “What sis I say?”

The two Assassins shared a dark look. “That phrase is used by only one group. The Templars.” My grandmother took in a deep breath and let it out through her nose. “Evidently we now have a reason to stay.”


	11. Sequence 2.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The true journey to Brotherhood begins...

Even deep inside the bunker, I could feel the chaos on the city streets. Things were getting worse and it was all my fault. Gran- no Mentor Rosanne took my hidden blade from me. I didn’t know if I had the right to be upset with all I had done, the people I put in danger. She and Sabah put up a board in the bunker with a table underneath it, slowly filled with photos. It was a list of names. Some of them… some of them I knew from camp, as counselors or fellow campers. I’m pretty sure Sabah takes satisfaction every time I look at it, I can tell she desperately wants for this to weigh on me.

It does.

Others I thought I knew from the camp join Sabah in the glares, some I had shared cabins and tents with didn’t even look at me. Only Emma and Sophia, when she was able to be in the bunker, seemed to be on my side. Lisa definitely wasn’t.

I stepped into the kitchen of the bunker and found Lisa drinking coffee while pouring through some books. I reached up to knock on the door frame but hesitated. “Don’t block the doorway, other people need to eat or something.” Lisa didn’t turn towards me and her voice was emotionless. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“I… I wanted to see how you were doing?”

Lisa paused while turning a page. “You want to know how I’m doing?” She spun around on her stool to face me with a glare. “You want to know how I’m doing!?” She stood up and grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me right into her face. “I feel like Frank in They Live! I was under a gun from my parents, Coil, even you! But that I could deal with, I could work my way out of that eventually. But now, now! Now I find out they were under a gun too because the whole goddamn system wants us to put it against our heads with a smile on our faces!”

Lisa let me go and gripped her head in her hands from frustration. “AAAAARRRGH!” She slammed her head next to the books she had been reading and pulled a bottle of pills from behind a stack, knocking a few into her hand and swallowing them dry. “...The worst part is? I already knew just about everything, I just ignored it. Rocking the boat would have gotten me killed.”

“I’m so, so sorry.” I reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it away.

“Yeah, I bet you are.” She sat back down on the stool and went back to her books. “Ironically, being here means I’m actually doing some good with my life.” She turned a page and ignored me.

I left the kitchen and headed down the hall, finding my way to an open area that had been transformed into a practice ground. Sabah was setting up scarecrows around the room with Clara’s help. I slowly walked in and put a hand on one of the scarecrows. “Can I help?”

Sabah tossed me one of the scarecrows and pointed into the rafters, one set up to look like a rooftop. “Get it up there novice. Then I have tasks for you to complete.”

I looked at Clara. “Is she like this all the time?”

“Since we got here, yeah.” Clara’s left eye twitched.

“Great.” I hefted the scarecrow on to my shoulder and climbed into the rafters, setting the dummy against a railing. “Where do you want it Sabah?” I called down.

“There is fine, now get back down here.” I rolled off the railing and down to the ground, continuing my roll past the Assassin. “Well, your parkour isn’t horrible at the very least.” She grabbed my arm and slapped a bracer on to it, tightening straps and then backing off.

It was a new hidden blade, this one made of metal. “Wouldn’t this set off alarms?”

Sabah rolled her eyes. “Aluminum is harder to be detected, that is treated aluminum. Now,” She gestured out the door. “The Mentor wishes to speak with and so you can start your atonement.”

I bowed at my waist and left, Clara following behind me. “Not going to stay and watch the others practice? Or get in some of your own?”

Clara enthusiastically shook her head. “Hell no! I’m fine being income and info, anything like what you do would drive me nuts.” She became contemplative. “Not that I’ll tell the girls they can’t volunteer of course.”

I stopped and let Clara run into from behind. “Clara… why are you so accepting of this? Even back when it was just me you…”

“Look, Taylor…” Clara shrunk into herself, the smallest traces of Destiny the whore and her confidence gone. “I was just so tired of being taken advantage of. I didn’t hesitate to send you after Devion because he was a bastard and I, honestly, am a horrible bitch. I saw an opportunity and took it.”

“And were going to leave me high and dry?”

“...It crossed my mind. But then again, I didn’t actually expect you to come back. I thought you would die and I could get Devion next time he came by all freaked out.”

I Looked at Clara. “That explains some but not all.”

“Dinah. What happened to her wasn’t too far off from some of my girls.” A brief moment of sympathy?

“Thank you for being honest with me Clara.” We walked in silence from then on to Mentor Roseanne’s office. Clara gave me a hug from behind in encouragement, then left back to whatever quarters she was using while she waited for a safe time to return to Parliament.

I took a deep breath in and knocked. “Enter.” I opened the door and saw Mentor Roseanne fiddling with my… mother’s robes on a mannequin next to her desk. I bowed with a fist over my heart as I had seen the others do, then waited for her to notice me. “Are you ready to atone Taylor?”

“Yes Mentor.” I kept my tone even. Grandma Rose was firm but always willing to comfort me, but this wasn’t her. Mentor Roseanne had little affection to give beyond my already granted mercy.

“You have killed seven people, one of whom was an innocent.” Mentor checked the shawl of the robes on display. “So you have seven tasks to complete before I will even consider your transgressions forgiven.”

“Of course Mentor.” Hold back the tears Taylor, you’ve killed people and didn’t break down.

“You will enter ABB territory and investigate the gang members. You will find which lieutenants are loyal to Bakuda over any other leader. You will not take any matters into your own hands. Your blade shall be used only in self-defense or if you have no other choice. Any deaths will be explained to me, Understood?”

“Yes Mentor.”

Mentor turned towards me and directed my attention to the robes, the mask I had added to it on the head. “The presence of ‘Sowa’ is an unfortunate necessity because of what you have done. You will wear the robes for now. If you appease the Brotherhood, they may yet be yours properly.”

“Of course Mentor.” I stepped up and took the robes off the mannequin.

Mentor’s eyes softened and for a moment it was Grandma Rose again. “Do not fail, Taylor. Your life depends on it.” She turned away from me and back to her desk. I changed into the robes in a dressing chamber and exited via the roof.

Sirens were ringing out and I could see the smoke rising from street fires. The riots were calmer, but still raging. I turned away from downtown and faced the docks where I had to begin my search. I took a deep breath and broke into a run across the rooftops, ducking behind whatever I could to stay out of sight of any flyers.

Then I started seeing the billboards. ATTENTION: ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS bolded in red, a rendering of an Assassin in a hood underneath it. The Templars were already spreading word about us, and effectively. Even with video screen billboards changing up, no one would have reason to waste efforts on warning people about a person during a riot when all the law enforcement is incapable of investigating. “They’re tying the Assassins to the chaos in the public’s minds. Templars must want the public to see the Brotherhood as just as dangerous as the riots.” Unfortunately I couldn’t afford to deal with that right now, but it does make it harder to blend in.

I made it to ABB territory and slipped to the ground in the shadows. The street I was on had an overturned car, graffiti, and a few broken windows in the buildings. All things considered, it wasn’t that bad for a riot. I ducked farther back into the alley as I heard some shouting approaching. It was a mob… and might be my ticket farther in. I waited till they were just past me and slipped out, grabbing a brick off the ground on the way. I merged into the back with a pumping fist and stone, growling the whole while. Some blinked at me joining but ignored me.

I Saw some ABB step out of buildings, but they didn’t join up with the mob. They were the best targets for the area. But I couldn’t get out of the mob, which had grown larger since I joined in. Damn it, I was going to lose them if I didn’t do something!

I hefted the brick in my hand. I could send the mob into a riot, slip out in the confusion. “Freeze!” Fortunately I didn’t have to do anything. Riot police set up a barricade and where lining up confoam sprayers. A girl next to me tossed a can or something and the mob charged. I dropped the brick and weaved through the mess to where thegangbangers were.

“Shit.” There was no sign of them. If I didn’t pick up a trail soon, that riot was going to catch up to me and I’d never find anything. I Looked around the area and I metal trash can was upright with a lid on it, the rest of the area was trashed. I Saw some blood on the brick wall, a sharp piece of stone jutting out.

I took a step back to where I knew they came from, Picturing the can on its side. “Holy-!” A ghost, just like when I was tracking. My surprise lost the vision. “Okay, calm down Taylor. Calm down. It’s not going to hurt you, it’s a friendly ghost.” I Looked again, letting the apparition take its course. “One of them tripped and cut themselves on the brick, but what about the other one?”

I followed my Sight downwards, a smear of barbecue sauce streaked towards the wall. “They knocked into each other.” A Glow caught my Sight, the oils of a hand print showing up on the wall. A second and a third stumbling its way down the wall until just fingerprints. “He pushed off from here, and still had some barbecue on his shoe… Got em!” I had a trail.

I followed the infrequent apparitions through the alleyways until I came to a massage parlor. The ones I had been following were inside, and I could not risk exposing myself just to get information. I snuck around the building until I found a window that had been left open. I slipped it just wider than myself and gently fell inside. “Ooh, that’s nice right there.” It was someone on the other side of the wall. “Hey, watch the hand! Just got the bandaid on.” Well lucky me, just who I was looking for. I crouched behind the display table next to the wall. “Damn, why’d Bakuda have to send us out? It’s like a hurricane out there!”

“Hell if I know man. Yeah, lower lower. Niiice.” The other man moaned. “But we did something to impress her.”

“I just hope You-Know-Who finds out.”

“She’s got something planned for him, don’t you worry. A pretty soon she’ll be sitting pretty. Now,” I heard clothes drop. Twice. Oh my god. “Up for the happy ending?” There were twin giggles. Yep, that was probably all I was getting for a while. I slipped out the window and slowly brought it closed.

So, Bakuda was moving against Lung? Mentor will definitely be interested in that.


	12. Sequence 2.6

I knelt before Mentor after I recounted what I discovered. She did not immediately react, only standing up from behind her desk and slowly pacing around it. “You have done well Taylor. Tell me, did you manage to find what the plan to move against Lung was?”

“No mentor. The senior kept silent on the subject. I managed to trail them to a small apartment complex and did learn many of Bakuda’s followers were there, but nothing else.”

“An apartment complex?” Mentor questioned with a raised brow.

“Two stories, three buildings, a fence, maybe four units to a building. I believe it was a layover more than a base.”

Mentor nodded but said nothing. She bid me to rise and follow her, which I did. “Taylor, why did you so quickly accept the Brotherhood?”

I blinked in surprise and lost my balance for a brief moment, my foot feeling caught in the carpet. “You were training me to be an Assassin all my life. Why wouldn’t I accept it?”

Grandma shook her head. “That is not how you should see things. Just because you were raised a certain way does not mean you must be a certain way.” We passed the sparring room where Emma was practicing with Sabah. “Take Sabah for example. Her family raised her muslim, her father wanted her to be an engineer. And where is she now?”

“An Assassin, but also an amateur fashion designer and parahuman.”

“Among other things her father would disagree on.” Grandma said cryptically. “Using your own logic, should she not still be in engineering classes?”

“Well…” I didn’t have a good answer. “...I suppose that’s true.”

“Is it?” Mentor let the question hang in the air as we moved on. We came to the newly formed communications center, where Lisa was operating the computers. On the main screen was… a forum? Another had a map of a galaxy, red and blue stretching over it like a strategy game.

“...nd the Psyrons called forth the evil of the Rentarons to the ice world of Koroth, dragging the peaceful settlers into their bloody conflict.” Lisa narrated to herself as she finished typed. “And post! Oh, Mentor Jacobs!”

“Easy Lisa, how goes it?” I am so confused.

“Well enough I suppose. Even with the tags and my power, this isn’t exactly the easiest job.” Lisa took a long drink of the coffee next to her. “Even with the mad libs we got set up, writing this stuff is hard.”

I’m still confused. “Um, can someone explain what’s going on? Please?”

Mentor looked at me bemused, Lisa with loathing tempered by smug ‘I’m the favorite!’ all siblings learn. “Lisa is helping coordinate the Brotherhood. We have control of certain internet domains and forums, disguised as roleplaying and alternate history exercises. These allow us to communicate with our Brothers mostly unopposed.”

Lisa smirked cruelly. “It’s actually pretty clever. I just have to watch for certain tags and run things through a little cipher and boom! I just let someone know that Templar agents in Minnesota have gotten close to the bureau so they need to go dark.” She looked directly in my eye. “It’s very direct without needing to force people.”

So the screaming has settled to sniping at me. Maybe it will lower down to out of earshot! “I see.” I said, keeping my thoughts to myself. “Then I know the information is in good hands.”

Mentor looked at me with a sly smile and then led me on to another part of the base. Grue was overlooking the armory. Well, Grue was but… hold on. “Mentor, something is wrong.” There was a buzzing in my Sight.

“Taylor?” Grandma looked at me concerned. “What do you See?”

“I don’t… There!” I reached out and grabbed something, pinning it to the ground and extending my blade. A girl my age was beneath me, dressed like some of Clara’s girls and had hair to match. “Aisha!?” What was Brian’s sister doing in the armory?

“Christ, let me go okay? I was just walking around.” I didn’t move off of her but my blade did retract. “Come on, you are seriously heavy Sowa.”

“Answer her Aisha.” Grue ordered. “Now.”

“I was just looking around, honest!”

Mentor tapped my shoulder and I stood up, keeping a firm grip on the miniscule fabric Aisha called clothes. “You were hiding and I only suddenly remembered that you were here. How?”

Aisha shrugged. “Heck if I know, people seem to forget about me all the time.”

I looked towards Mentor in confusion. She caught my eye and nodded, so I let the girl go. “I believe Aisha has a power, one where we cannot… Grue, how is the check going?” What were we talking about? It wasn’t the weapons it was…

I lashed out next to me and pulled. “Ow! My hair!” Aisha screamed.

Mentor looked at us in shock. “A power it seems. One where I forgot you there the moment you relaxed. We are fortunate Taylor’s Talent is so advanced to detect you.”

“So?” Aisha scratched at her braids after I let her go.

“It would be a shame if that talent went to waste.”

Grue stepped between Mentor and Aisha. “Hell no! I’m working with you because the Templars stacked the deck, you are not dragging my sister into this!”

“And what if I want to?” Aisha poked her brother in the ribs. “Maybe I want to do something about the mess outside!”

“My little sister is not turning into a killer!” Smoke began pouring out of Grue’s clothes.

“Oh so that’s how it's going to be?”

“Yes!”

“You don’t get to decide my life!”

“I’m the only one in our family that can!”

“No, I’m the only one that can. For me.” Aisha turned towards Mentor. “What do you want me to do?”

“You will be back up for Taylor as she gains us a bureau.” Huh? “The apartments in the ABB territory. Clear it out and we can use it as a staging ground.”

+++

I snuck back into ABB territory, Aisha just walked. She was practically the embodiment of the second tenant, I could barely See her as more distance got between us. I just kept myself focused on the mission and the fact I had support, even if the who slipped my mind.

“There it is.” I said as we climbed onto a roof across from the apartments. The ABB had tagged the shit out of it. Greens and yellows all over the walls, dragons and demon faces decorating on top of it.

“These guys really don’t have a sense of style, do they?” Aisha commented.

“Do you know your part, ‘Imp’?” I referred to the devil mask she chose to wear on her face.

“Get in, cause enough ruckus under my power to make them think the place is haunted.”

“Good. As soon as I take out the leader, I’ll set off this.” I pulled out a small rocket. “Once this goes off, Mentor says a few of our allies will move in to take the area.”

I heard a commotion below. Trash cans and tables were even more strewn about than when I got there. My support was moving and I had to follow quickly. I dove off the roof into a trash can, then hopped out and around the building into the bushes.

“The hell is going on out here!” The leader stepped out onto a balcony dressed in a bathrobe and a wild look on her face.

“Ghosts or something! Stuff is going crazy!”

“Argh!” The leader went back inside and came back out with a machine gun. “It’s not a ghost it’s a goddam cape! Find it before I send you to Bakuda for messing up!” She screamed and tore her way down the outer steps. “Gotta do goddam everything around here. Gas bitch is right, I’m way better than these losers. Should just let ‘em get stuck with scales.”

The leader stomped, barefoot, across the yard towards me and I snuck through the bush as she got closer. She pointed her gun my way and narrowed her eyes, when another crash of metal rang from the opposite end of the courtyard. “The fuck was that?” I grabbed her by the neck and pulled her into the bush with me as I ran my blade into her back.

I poked my head out enough to see the courtyard. Damn! Nowhere good to set off the rocket with the gang members around. A chirping caw flew over my head. A golden eagle flew upwards and landed on top of a telephone pole where it had made a nest. “Good birdy.” I made a mad sprint for the pole and clambered up. The eagle flew off instead of attacking me, its nest was barely built anyway so it probably didn’t see worth in the hassle.

I could see a good distance around me from here, meaning the rocket would be nice and clear. I aimed it upwards and used flicked the steel starter, sending it up into the sky where it exploded into a firework bird. The gangbangers looked up in confusion, just in time for… is that the DWU?!? Yeah, that’s Kurt down there. ...Thanks dad. The dockworkers just clobbered the thugs, leaving them no chance of retaliation.

I dove from the pole to a bush below, popping back out to surprise my allies. I reached out next to me and grabbed Aisha’s shoulder. “You are not taking the booze.” I told her.

“Not booze, paint.” She held up cans of spray paint. “Figured if this place was ours now, we should redecorate.”

I looked at the cans, then the garishly colored walls. I smirked. “Hand me some white?” She plopped it into my hand and I strode over to a big dragon face. I sprayed up then down then gave it a nice curve underneath.

“I wanted to do that?” I turned and saw Sabah of all people holding another can. “It’s practically tradition when capturing an enemy base.” She looked up at my crude iconography. “Needs more red I think. And the prongs are missing.” I couldn’t help but laugh, even when we agree on something Sabah still has to criticize me.


End file.
